Happy Trashy Tuesday! Well whatever day it is…in the Spirit of Trashy Tuesday…. Over the years I have found more of one type of furniture than any other. CHAIRS!
Bonus! I recently updated this popular post and added a new project, 22 ways to upcycle an old chair! Enjoy.
Why? I think Chairs are a conundrum for people. They can be hard to paint, or if a spindle breaks, or comes loose, it takes time and patience to fix them.
You May Also Like: Two Wrongs don’t make a Right, But Black and White Chairs Make a Bench!
Sometimes I find the chairs in perfectly good condition, maybe they just got separated from the pack and trying to establish their independence from the Dining Set. (Haha)
At any given moment (and especially this moment) I have more chairs than I know what to do with. About half of them are not suitable for sitting anymore. What do with these old chairs? Turn to Pinterest of course!
I started a new board you can follow “Chair upcycles”. Here are my favorite 21 ideas for upcycling broken, unloved or just unused chairs
If you don’t follow Christy at Confessions of a Serial DIY’er, you are missing out. This girl can make anything from your garbage look like a treasure. This particular project, she found in her neighbors trash!
Christy has THE BEST step by step tutorials on how to follow all her projects too.
This Chair Upcyle from Oh! My Creative is just pure genius. How cute is this for your next gathering! This would be perfect for an indoor party as well.
I have a weak spot for chairs made into a bench. I couldn’t find the original source of this picture. If anyone knows, please let me know and I will change the link. Chair to bench upcycle Via Pinterest:
I love the idea of a chair as a planter. This one also missing an original pin. I did this myself to two of my old chairs, how to coming soon! Love the tiling on the chair too! Chair Upcycle Via Pinterest.
This Chair Upcycle took me by surprise. I would have NEVER thought to use the Chair Spindles as Candle Holders, but that’s exactly what Farm Chic did with her old chair pieces.
Here is another Chair Upcycle I would have never dreamed up. From Ms. Smartie Pants, she shared this from the catalog Napa Style. I bet they would be much cheaper if you just made them yourself…..
Here is another lovely Chair Plant Stand. This one is hanging! I found this at The Little Corner on Tumblr.
Another from Pinterest, Upcycled Chair to a Dog Bed. What dog wouldn’t love this?
This Chair upcycle is AMAZING but sadly the blogger no longer has a tutorial, or a blog available, so you will have to use your imagination of how to take this old chair to this upholstered chair. But WOW.
Another Chair Planter! I can’t get enough of how many ways you can do this. From The Junk Chick, they have a full tutorial on how to build this from your old chair.
Another Pinterest missing a good link, but you can get the idea here. I love the Garden Stools, and especially the rope handles!
How about the chair as art! This is a lowly Kitchen Chair from an 1950’s – 1970’s style kitchen set. Who hasn’t made one of these over. I have a Pink one in my closet that was one of my very first Painted Projects wayyyyyy back in the day. This beautiful chair from Pinterest.
Here’s another one of those retro chairs with a totally new look. I had to look twice to even notice it was one of “those” chairs. These chairs are especially good for paint projects with detail like this cute chair from Girl About Townhouse. Don’t you love the pops of Gold?
Something about old maps just grabs me, especially foreign maps. I love what Pillar Box Home did with old maps and old chairs! She has a fantastic tutorial too. Be sure to go check it out.
Here’s another amazing DIY Blogger, Gail from My Repurposed Life. I have been reading Gail’s blog for years, and she consistently amazes me at what she can build from old parts. Another Chair to Bench project, and I love it.
If you are like me, you love Just Add Wheels to projects (check out my post on how to), I do it all the time! It would have never occurred to me to cut the bottom of a chair off and make it into a Toddler Scooter! This is genius. From Pinterest.
I love taking free things and making something new. Like these chairs I got for free and made into a bench. You can see all the details here at this POST.
Do you have a chair where the leather or Vinyl is pretty ugly, don’t pull it off! Did you know you can paint leather and vinyl with DIY Paint? Check out how easy this is HERE.
You can also Spray Paint gross old leather with Metallic Spray Paint. I got this chair from my neighbor years ago. It lived in a house where a woman smoked for 30 years with the windows closed. It took a lot of cleaning, then had to do something with that leather. Read all about how to Spray Paint gross Leather HERE.
What if you have a chair that is missing a seat entirely? Turn to Martha, Martha Stewart. She really does know EVERYTHING. She shows how to make a woven seat on a chair with no seat. You could even do this idea with old neckties, belts or Upholstery Webbing.
I saved the best for last! My friend, You Tuber and DIY Paint Queen, Debi Beard of Debis Design Diary DIY Paint. She made these ornaments from old chair parts. Watch her amazing Video to see how she makes these, her videos are so fun, you will watch several in a row before you realize it!
And my most favorite chair upcycle! Also from Debi Beard of DIY Paint and Debis Design Diary DIY Paint, used an old upholstered chair, she covered in Wood and then did this super cool boat chippy finish on it with 100% Natural DIY Clay Based Paints.
I hope some of these chair upcycles have inspired you to look at your old chairs, or the next chair you find on the side of the road into the next great chair upcycle.
Hi. My name is Patty and I’m a Chairaholic. Truly, I love chairs, too, and pick them up wherever I find them. Need to get busy and actually do something with them. Thanks for the ideas !!
Omg! You took the words out of my mouth😎
Great post—I sure DO love all my chairs and a good CHAIR PROJECT!
Obsessive Chair Fanatic (aka- Catherine)
Hi Karen! I have followed Christy at Confessions of a serial DIYer for years and she can make anything. She is full of inspiration. So are you! Thank you!!
Christy at Confessions of a Serial DIYer is so inspiring!
Really great post!!! So many ideas! Thank you so much. I am definitely going to use the stools with the legs cut down idea as I need something to pop my plants onto to get them up off the floor in our sunroom. I love this idea coz I can cut them different heights to create cute plant vignettes..
Thank you! I really love chairs, but you can only have so many to be used as seats! haha!
oh, how funny! You re-ran this post, and there at the bottom I see a comment I made last year. HAHA! It was fun seeing your video earlier today. I was so surprised when you called me by name! I thought somehow I had my camera on by mistake! Cuz I don’t even know how to turn it on! Karen, I miss your posts on finding junk and where you find it. I really enjoyed seeing pictures of piles of junk on the side of the road, or behind the stores, or next to some apartments. It’s fun living through your adventures! 🙂 Hope you guys have a good and safe trip.
Hi Patty! This is totally something I would do. Thank you for commenting twice!
Now that I’m retired I can start on some old chairs that I collected over the years! Looking forward to getting some different ideas. Thanks
Hello, My name is Shelley Troy and I am the owner of The Junk Chick. http://www.facebook.com/thejunkchick The picture of the red planter that is made from an old TABLE base and a drawer and is painted RED is my intellectual property. The Green Divas have taken that picture and used it to drive traffic to their website. How that piece was made is not at all how they describe the process on their website. My business name is on that picture. You have used that picture on Pinterest to drive traffic to your website and I really wish that you would give me the credit for what is my intellectual property. I have spoken to Green Divas and they tell me they do not know how to remove the picture they have placed on Pinterest. While I am thrilled that people love my creations, I sure wish they would give credit where credit is due. Thank you.
I have made baby and toddler swings from one or more chairs. I’v never done an adult version but that would be really cool too.
Great 👍 The ideas are really good. Have been thinking for sometime now about the big dining table and six chairs at my mother’s house where the whole family sat years ago. It is no longer used and it takes up so much space. But I have not been able to convince my mother to part with it. After seeing your ideas, I am sure I can convince her to part with at least two of the chairs and do something wonderful with it. Thankyou.
Thank you for sharing that with me! I hope you can inspire your mother to give some of those chairs a new life! Thank you for taking the time to comment, it really means a lot to me to hear how my words and projects inspired someone else.
All very interesting ideas, I just refinished my very first dining room chairs and loved the labor of love.
You have given me a new light on what can be done with chairs. Thank you.
Thank you so much Mary! I would love to hear what you did with the Dining Room Chairs. I am so touched you found inspiration here. Have a beautiful day. -Karen
Well I may as well throw in my confession too. My name is Mary and I need to join chairholics anonymous! My sister is on my back all the time about the amount of chairs I have. It is a REAL DISEASE!!!! Lot of good ideas here, just need more time to act! Thanks for sharing! We are all in this together.🙃❤️
I love that there are more of us out there! That’s hilarious!
Hey there! Happy Trashy Tuesday (or whatever day it is)! 🎉 It’s great to see someone else who appreciates the art of furniture hunting. Chairs seem to have a magical way of finding their way into our lives, don’t they? 😄 Do you have any favorite chair discoveries or any unique stories behind some of your finds? Let’s celebrate the beauty in “trash” and turn it into treasure! 💫 #TrashyTuesday #FurnitureHuntingAdventures