Decorative Painting Ideas for Chairs

Faux Wood Grain Chairs

• A faux wood finish allows you to duplicate the look of a wide variety of wood types, which is perfect when you are trying to match existing furnishings. A light brown paint provides the base color. A darker glaze is applied and dragged through with a choice of tools---such as stiff brushes, graining combs, steel wool or rockers---to create a pattern of wood grain. Decorative painters rely on carefully calibrated formulas for base and glaze colors to match particular kinds of wood. Alternatively, make a funky wood grain chair using unexpected colors like green and silver.

Antiqued Chairs

• A diluted umber glaze helps you turn any painted chair into an instant "antique." Use an already painted chair or select the color of your choice. Tinted glaze imbues the paint with a patina of age as it settles into cracks and edges. To take the look a step further, distress the edges of the chair with sandpaper or steel wool until the original wood or older coats of paint show through.

Ragged Chairs

• Ragging gives chairs a mottled surface, either dramatic or subtle, depending on the base coat and glaze colors. Muted colors in similar shades suggest a naturally aged surface. A bright or dark glaze over a pale base color highlights the pattern and texture formed by ragging. Ragging can either be an additive or subtractive process, where glaze is applied or removed with soft bunches of rags. Use multiple glaze colors to create a more complex surface.

Folk Painted Chairs

• Colonial furniture painters made their own milk paint using curds and natural pigment powders. You can also make your own milk paint to give your chairs the unmistakable matte sheen of traditional paint. Add folk designs by stenciling or painting freehand. Colonial decorative images tend to rely on a repertoire of repeating shapes and elements.