D.I.Y. Upcycled Chairs

Posted by Ali | Tuesday June 12, 201222 comments

As they say, one person's trash is another's treasure.  In my neighbourhood it is customary to leave things you no longer need at the end of your driveway for anyone to take.  It's a great way to get quality stuff for free. I've seen everything from gently used strollers to solid wood coffee tables, sofas, chairs, bicycles, books and random odds and ends. Sidebar:  I do not recommend you take a roadside sofa because you never know what's living in them. 

When the discards go out, you have to act quickly before the guy in the minivan beats you to it.  For real. There is a guy in a minivan in my neighborhood who is all over this.

I found these chairs on one of my walks.  They're solid wood and aside from being an ugly shade of army green were in pretty decent shape.
D.I.Y Upcycled Chairs
I was lucky to get a free can of high end Benjamin Moore paint from the brand in Snow White (2122-70).  It's a beautiful designer shade of white that is nice enough to use by itself but I had my mind set on a particular shade of yellow, which I created by mixing with another paint.
D.I.Y Upcycled Chairs
Ideally when taking on a project like this you aren't lazy and you take the time to sand and prep the wood first.  But friends, I am lazy and so my D.I.Y buddy, Alexandra and I just painted over all of it.  To create my perfect yellow, I mixed the two colours together. 
D.I.Y Upcycled Chairs
Is this not the happiest yellow you've ever seen?  You could leave the chairs like this, but I thought a pillow to sit on would be more comfortable so I enlisted another D.I.Yer to help. My Mom.  But before I show you the final look, let's take another peek at the before:
D.I.Y Upcycled Chairs
I think we can agree they look much better now.  Ta-da!
D.I.Y Upcycled Chairs
What do you think?  Am I going to have to fight you for the neighbourhood discards now?
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19 Comments

on June 12, 2012  shanaz  5,961 said:


You are a creative lady!

on June 12, 2012  annmarie  4,261 said:

Chairs look fab!

on June 12, 2012  fredamans  12,209 said:

Nicely done!

on June 12, 2012  sirenstarlight  7,239 said:

I love it! Looks great! :)
Way to upcycle and makes something beautiful again! :)
I'm a big scavenger myself, but never would have thought to do this with chairs!!
Love it!

on June 12, 2012  Bren  26,031 said:

Good job!They look way better and I love the style of those chairs there cute!

on June 12, 2012  Aliza  14,011 said:

Great job! Cute upcycle :)

on June 12, 2012  ra143  4,092 said:

Wow, looks great! Good job!

on June 12, 2012  shuey  2,784 said:


I love it! They look bran new. We were just given 4 used bar stools for the outdoor bar. I was looking at them this morning wondering if I could redoe them. They are plastic though. Even the seat material on them seemed to be made of a plastic type material. I'll have to look into it.

on June 12, 2012  takoda  28,648 said:

Nice job Ali, your turning in to quit the little home craft woman.LOL

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