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July 24, 2010

The Good, the Bad and the Disappointing

Over this last week my design-talented and clearly colour obsessed ;-) blog partner Kelly has festooned us with glorious colour as she narrowed down and decided on a stunning paint colour for her front door.DSCF0862DSCF0791

Well…

I have a yummy colour project of my own to share.

Only… while my beautiful Orange Copper is scrumptious, and the chairs that I (with the help of blogger and sweet-volunteer Nancy from Markus Design) painted are now wonderfully lovely to LOOK at… disappointingly… the project didn’t turn out so well :-(

Perhaps you’ll remember the scenario… I purchased some fantabulous outdoor pillows for DSCF0876the furniture on my front deck. I re-stained my table and chairs to a rich warm brown so that they would coordinate perfectly with 2 of the pillows… but my 2 ugly Adirondack (or Muskoka – which ever name you prefer!) chairs just didn’t fit into the design plan. Come to think of it, I don’t know if they EVER fit in!!

My lovely pillows, with their hits of Orange Copper don’t make the chairs look any better do they?!

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Truth be told, while these chairs were comfy to lounge in, they were in horrible condition… the stain was wearing off (why did I EVER choose that colour in the first place?!) and Brian has had to reinforce both chairs with additional pieces of wood so that they couldn’t collapse with us sitting IN them!!

We really should have just replaced them.

But I saw a project in them; I wanted to paint them my phenomenal Orange Copper!

DSCF0861And that’s exactly what I did, with Nancy’s help…

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Nancy is such a doll!

And a good painter ;-)

We applied 2 coats of paint to all the areas that we could reach without turning the chairs over… painting the underside was going to be my job later in the week, after the paint we applied had a chance to fully cure.DSCF0886

 






But you know… as we were painting our first coat I KNEW we had a problem… and I expressed that concern to Nancy.

I had completely forgotten…

The original stain was oil based :-(

And our first coat coverage of the latex paint suggested that we were going to have adhesion problems. Even after the second coat – which really should have been the final coat – we found we couldn’t fully eliminate the peek-a-boo original stain.

Even though I knew the rules around painting over oil-based paints/stains, I told myself that I’d just let is sit a couple days to fully cure.

Here it is, a week later, and it’s clear that the project was a bust!!

DSCF0885You see… while the paint is essentially “dry”, it’s weeping or sweating a slightly tacky substance that makes it impossible to sit in the chairs :-( Take a close look at this photo… it was taken in the morning so it’s spotted with dew… only when I touch the dew drops the water turns white. Yep… yucky stuff that’s come from the oil-based stain :-(

Brad the Painter GuyMy brother Brad – a professional painter (among other wonderful things, which I’ll share one day!!) – tells me that the only thing to do is strip the chairs down, prime (which is what I should have done in the first place!) and paint again. But like I said before… these chairs are in declining physical condition; painting the chairs was in large part my way of seeing the chairs last us another year or two. So – really – it’s SO not worth the effort to strip and re-do :-( 

So what will we do?

Well… for now we’ll pick up some in-expensive blankets to cover the chairs so that we can use them. Then we’ll purchase 2 new chairs in a raw wood so that I can paint them my glorious Orange Copper!

Let me show you how fantastic the chairs look… seeing them like this gives me incentive to buy those 2 new chairs and get them painted right away!!

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The Good = My absolutely fabulous Orange Copper!

The Bad = Not preping properly… bad me!

The Disappointing = Not having 2 beautiful, re-furbished Adirondack/Muskoka chairs to lounge in on our deck

But I have a new un-opened can of my favourite Orange Copper, ready and waiting for the purchase of 2 new chairs!! I’ll be sure to post photos of the lovely chairs we WILL get Butterflyto enjoy… once I paint them!!

I’m sharing this almost-transformation with the readers over at Between Naps on the Porch; Susan’s is hosting her 80th Metamorphosis Mondays!

sigv

27 comments:

Unknown said...

They sure do LOOK cute! Sorry about your disappointing results. But thanks for sharing your lesson with everyone!

Unknown said...

Victoria,

All is well because:
1)It was your project and not a client
2) You kept going even in the face of defeat
3)Rewards your ahead of the season in color as fall coming slowly approaches.

Now this is something to twitter about!

Bette

Marcus Design said...

Awwwww, I am so sorry that it didn't work out Victoria!! It's too bad the tacky-ness didn't go away, I had a small glimmer of hope! But on the flip side the color is FAB-U-LOUS!! Don't they LOOK stunning?? Even though you can't sit in them! And the best part of all is I got to come over and have a wonderful time painting with fabulous YOU! Thanks again, it was so much fun :)
Nancy

Vanessa@decor happy said...

Oh, that's too bad - they do look fab though! And Nancy really is as sweet as she seems - what a great blogger friend!

Kathysue said...

Victoria, you know Nancy?!! I love her blog and she is always so sweet about visiting my blog and commenting, what a lovely lady!! Sorry about the project that is a bummer but you know the color now so that was a good thing!! Happy weekend Kathysue

The Misty Journey said...

I am not drawn to use such bold colors in my projects, but this looks lovely! I am sure you can your bad project turn into a good one...somehow everything can be fixed. Keep up the good work!

the cape on the corner said...

well it LOOKS great, even tho it isn't 100% functional right now. love those bold colors you got going on there!

Jemsmom said...

The chairs are fabulous!!! Ok., you may not be able to sit on them, but they LOOK fabulous!!! That color rocks. I know it is frustrating to do all that work and it not be correct, but you will never do that again! Love the oranges and browns. Very nice!

Verdigris Vie said...

Victoria - I love love love the way this looks.. They are gorgeeeeose. the orange is perfect. I know it's a pain to have to paint all over again - but these pics give me incentive too..

Vie

Simone - honeyandfizz said...

I love the colour. Your new chairs will look fabulous!

Marcus Design said...

Oh PS. I forgot to mention that I LOVE your stump table in between these chairs, that really completes the look :)
Nancy

Susie M said...

This idea was inspired. The orange copper looks perfect and will look great on your new chairs and with the accent pillows. Love those pillows by the way.

Catherine @ van Breugel Design said...

Hi Victoria, the chairs look awesome! Too bad you aren't able to use them though. Looks like you and Nancy had a good time! So sweet of her to help you out. It's great to have company when you're painting. Loving the stump table too!

millie @ passiondecor said...

Chairs look really beautiful...too bad you can't fully enjoy in them. Suddenly I like the orange very much..or maybe just this shade. And that piece of wood is gorgeous! you've made such a cozy and inviting spot
Hope you're having great weekend :)

Kat said...

They look fantastic! It's a shame that you can't use them. But at least you've got a great motivator to find some new chairs. I love that color. And you have confirmation that your vision was dead on! Kat

Susan said...

Awww Victoria,

What a freakin drag! In fact, sounds like something that would happen to me.

On the bright side your colour is going to look amazing when you get those 2 new chairs. Love that orange :)

cheers
Susan

Sally@DivineDistractions said...

The look is great! I love anything copper and most everything orange, so you're color way is perfect in my eyes. A rule of thumb about paint....oil based goes over everything...latex goes only over other latex. You didn't say if you had used oil or latex, so I'm guessing here.

Debbiedoos said...

Totally my style here...I love the color!

The Inspired Nest said...

I am guilty of premature painting too! The color is fab though!

Denise said...

What an awesome job you did, love the color of those chairs, and the pillows are just perfect. My daughter loves the color orange, she'd love these :) Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
hugs
Denise

Lori E said...

I am sure I have never seen anyone paint their chairs that colour before. It looks fabulous even if it won't stick. Too bad.

Emma said...

Thanks for sharing with us. I'm often one to jump right in without prepping properly! I just want to see the transformation so badly I can't wait. Good news the chairs will look awesome soon. The colour is perfect with your pillows.

Michelle said...

Oh...too bad, because they look awesome!! We've all done it...who even uses oil? Urg

Best,
Michelle

Donna @ Paisley and Perspective said...

Oh I can see why you have more Orange Copper waiting for new Adirondaks - they look amazing!

I love the punches of orange on your deck and the chairs are like the piece-de-resistance!

Steph@TheGraniteGurus said...

Sorry to hear about your disappointment. It always sucks when our projects don't go as planned right?
I was actually reading this post last night in bed and my husband piped up and said that he really liked the color of the chairs. I didn't know he was looking at what I was doing, so it made me laugh. He's not one to freely give out compliments either, so it must mean that the color is REALLY great. :)

theLENNOXX said...

Hi Kelly!

After I changed host server company a lot of my images "broke". It's a shame, since my blog is pretty much a browzing tool.. So I have to go back and reinstate all the freakin' photos that didn't make it =(

On a happier note; I've fixed the "old Hollywood Glam" post just for you, here's the link:

http://www.thelennoxx.com/?p=4340

Enjoy =)

theLENNOXX said...

Victoria, your chairs look fantastic in the after photos, it's so sad that you can't keep them. The orange copper paint is absolutely stunning, they look so chic with your HOT pillows!

Hope you find some similar chairs that you can paint =) And Nancy; Shes the sweetest girl, I'm sure you girls had a blast painting those chairs!

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