Have cane chair, will spray paint! I came across three weathered cane chairs destined for the council tip, whilst out for a walk with Buddy. (Yes, I actually carried them home – what a sight). They were prime candidates for a make-over, upcycle or whatever you want to call it. It’s one of the quickest DIY projects of this nature you can do. And, that’s three less things destined for landfill. Here’s how:

First task – sand back the cane. As they had been left out in the weather or maybe it was their age, but the lacquer on the chairs was in poor shape. And that’s good because it meant removing it, to allow for the adhesion of the primer, was super easy. I used a fairly fine sand paper and gave the whole chair a once over. Then, I brushed off the dust and wiped over the chair with a wet rag to ensure all the dust/grime was removed.

Second task – prime the chair. Spray paint primers can be bought fairly cheaply from your local DIY store. It’s important you follow the directions on the can so that it’s applied properly and you create a great base.

Primer stage

Third task – spray paint the chair! Once your primer is dry, you can start the fun bit – painting the chair. I love seeing the colour go on. I have decided to do each a different colour mainly so that you can see how different the chair can look.

First one: a pinky lilac – gloss

Second one – matt black

Third one – lime green enamel gloss

AND TA-DA! It’s that simple. All up I spent about $30…. so about $10 per chair. I mean I have absolutely no room for them but who cares!!! If my house was bigger, I’d put one in a bedroom more as a staging piece rather than a frequently used piece of furniture. 

Check out the results below. Obviously I need to make a proper base cushion, but you get the idea! So if you’ve never tried it before and you’re nervous about working on a loved piece of furniture, maybe grab a piece left out for the council clean up to use as a test dummy to help build your spray-painting confidence.

I really love the matt black chair – it’s so striking and strong but I think the green pips it just slightly as my favourite. Which one is yours?