Entry #18: Barstool Refresh

anitazachary
Feb 19
5 min read

Even though Punxsutawney Phil said there would be a few more weeks of winter, the temperatures here in NC feel like Spring has already sprung - at least for this week!

I'm taking advantage and making the best of this 60-high 70 degree weather and doing something I'd been putting off for years: repainting our barstools.

Now, I got these beautiful barstools in February of 2019, they were solid wood with caning on the back, secure and sturdy, they didn't poke out too much, and were short enough that my daughter and I could get in them easily.

Two barstools, the left painted a glossy black, while the right is plain orange-wood. — The first paint job in 2019 vs how they originally looked!

At the same time we got them, we did a big kitchen overhaul, painting the cabinets white (Pure White from Sherwin Williams) and adding black knobs, as at the time, all of our appliances - and our countertops - were black. We did this overhaul because our kitchen is North facing, so it doesn't get a ton of light, but adding that bright pop to the cabinets really did the trick!

At least, for a while.

Recently, the barstools have started to look a little tired, scuffed up from years of bumping into them, knocking them into the bar, and piling stuff in them. The black paint wore away in spots, letting the wood underneath peek back out, and that is just not acceptable anymore!

The top back of a black barstool, the seam has been worn away by use, wood peeks out beneath the paint.

So, when my daughter and I stopped into Walmart to pick up some perscriptions, I snuck over to the spray paint aisle.

And what do you know? I found some!

a can of Rust-Oleum Chalked spray paint in the color Tate Green.

After perusing for a while, we landed on Tate Green Chalk Paint by Rust-Oleum (I swear this isn't sponsored!) in ultra matte. I bought all they had, as we had four barstools to paint, and the nooks inside of caning can be tricky. That same day, I hefted one of the barstools out, set up my husband's workbench on the driveway pad, and got to painting!

a black barstool standing on a portable workbench. Half of it is painted in Rust-Oleum Chalked Tate Green outside.

My daughter immediately fell in love with it. I could see the vision, but I wasn't convinced until the entire thing had been painted.

The same barstool as before, but it stands on a concrete pad, completely painted Rust-Oleum's Chalked Tate Green, from the front view.

The same barstool as before, but it stands on a concrete pad, completely painted Rust-Oleum's Chalked Tate Green, from the back view.

The same barstool as before, but it stands on a concrete pad, completely painted Rust-Oleum's Chalked Tate Green, from the side view.

And I loved it!

A black barstool sitting at the bar in a kitchen; on it is a black ticking cushion which is piled up with dish rags and fabric napkins. Beside it sits the same barstool, but painted Rust-Oleum's Chalked Tate Green paint, with nothing in the seat. — Old paint vs new paint

As my daughter started reading the drying instructions, we realized that we never picked up a topcoat for the paint. Now, we probably had some type of topcoat in the garage, but the chance that it would still be liquid, that the nozzle wasn't impacted, or that the can would be good enough to use were pretty much zero; and, the chair was so beautiful that I didn't want to risk the finish, so we looked up where we could find the companion to the Chalked paint.

Search results came back: Town & Country, Ace Hardware, Lowes Home Improvement, Walmart.

Well, Town & Country is not that far away, so we started there - just a short jaunt and then we were scouring the aisles, but there wasn't a single can of Rust-Oleum Chalked anywhere in the store. Jumping back in the car, we trekked out to Ace Hardware, where the staff were incredibly sweet and helpful, but there was only ONE can of Chalked, and it was a white paint. One can in the entire store! Out of a whole section of Rust-Oleum and Krylon, one can!

Shaking our heads, we drove down the road and popped into Lowes, thinking they just had to have it. It's Lowes Home Improvement, they have to have spray paint, and they should have a big selection, too.

The astonishment that hit my daughter and I when we wandered into one of their giant, wide aisles, and were met with a measily 1/3 of it being Rust-Oleum, was immediate. Most of the spray paints they had were neon and highlighter colors, metallics, and glitter - not one Chalk paint can in that entire store. We still can't believe it.

Walmart was our last hope.

We raced to the aisle, sliding around carts and people talking on their phones, and made it to the spray paint cabinet with fingers crossed. There, like an answer to our prayers, sat the top coat, right next to the empty space were the Tate Green paint had been. Huzzah!

Both cans of Rust-Oleum Chalked; the left is Tate Green, and the right is a Matte Clear Topcoat.

I think I grabbed three cans, but I can't be sure. I was in such a haze of excitement that it all passed by in a blur.

When we got home, I wasted no time in bringing out our waiting barstool and spraying it down, switching off to paint a second stool while that one dried enough to touch.

However, that night was forecast to get below 50 degrees, so we pulled them in and set them back at the bar, careful not to bump them.

Both barstools painted Tate Green, sit at the angled edge of the bar, drying.

A more zoomed in photo of both barstools sitting at the angled edge of the bar, drying.

And that is when the strangest thing happened! My daughter turned to me and said: "I think we need to repaint the kitchen cabinets." Which is the same thought I had earlier in the day!

The beautiful, soft green of the stools just pulls on how harsh that white is - and, though I think Modern Farmhouse is cute, my house just doesn't fit that vibe - so, with little hesitancy (because it took me the whole of one summer to paint the kitchen the Pure White it is now) and knowing I don't have space on my plate to paint my kitchen again, we made the trek to Sherwin Williams and found some paint chips.

Three various white colored paint chips from Sherwin Williams; the left one is Restful White, Pure White sits in the middle, and the rightmost is Paperwhite. — Option 1: Restful White. Option 2: Paperwhite.

I'd be happy with either, but my daughter learns towards Restful White; we won't be completely sure which one to pick until we test it out on a cabinet door, so look out for that post, maybe sometime during the summer!

But this whole fiasco has brought up another thing - we don't use our barstools, at least, not in the way they're intended. We pile things in them, and they hold chargers, phone cords, medicine, or random things we don't have space for on the bar. On top of that, they take up a lot of valuable walking space between the kitchen and the nook (where we actually sit); so, after painting two barstools, I had an idea.

I moved the remaining, unpainted two barstools out to the garage, and I could feel the kitchen breathe. My husband and daughter could walk right up to the bar to give themselves insulin and not fight a chair for elbow room, I could talk to them more easily if I was in the kitchen, and it opened the area up to more comfortably clean. Our two painted chairs sat on the angled side of the bar, but the straightaway part just looked so empty.

Another photo of the Tate Green painted barstools sitting at the bar, but there is a hint of the straight edge of the bar to the left; exemplifying the empty space. — The straightaway is to the left of this photo, where the unfinished bookshelf sits, no peeking!

There needed to be something there, just not chairs.

How about a bookshelf?

We measured, debated, and found a bookshelf small (and wide!) enough to fit under the bar perfectly, and it was one we already owned! I can't share a photo of it just yet, as it needs to be painted whatever color we settle on for the kitchen, and the knobs changed, but I will make a big post on the whole kitchen refresh about it!

For now, we have some beautiful barstools, paint chips, and big ideas for this little space.