Rust-Oleum & Our Vintage Wire Chairs

About an hour after I posted about the wire chairs I found on Craigslist, that were only 7 miles from my house, I decided to call the guy and inquire about them. Story is, he got these chairs from a train engineer who found them on the side of the tracks back in the 70's. They are straight out of the 1950s, and painted a retro pink and black (reminding me very much of a poodle skirt). He's had them in his house for years, and now his wife gave the chairs the boot. Lucky me!

Although out of my price range at first glance, two of my friends continued to send me links to chairs, just like the ones I posted, that were $150-$400 PER CHAIR. Like, really? That much for a chair? Wire on chairs on Etsy are pretty ridiculous also. So, with all that in mind, I got in my car and drove to north west Denver to a little antique shop where I had to see the chairs for myself. Although $349 seemed to pricey at first, I figured maybe I could bargain him down a bit. And BAM, I did! The chairs even have their original hardware. I absolutely love love love them! And I think if ever we got tired of them as kitchen table chairs, they will make an absolute wonderful patio addition (i.e., that reclaimed wooden table with these beauties. Why, yes.)

Although oh so fond of the shape and condition these chairs are in, not so fond was I of the light pink body and black legs. I used a coarse sponge to clean off any peeling paint and bits of rust--which really was not a lot (seriously, how was I so lucky to find these in such quality condition!?). I then used Rust-Oleum white primer & paint in a semigloss. And I cannot believe I'm about to show you this photograph--but really, you need to see the spray paint for reference.

Since it was a wonderfully warm day and absolute perfect painting weather, I primed our thrifted bar stools as well. A productive day was had! And I was also able to try out the Rust-Oleum Satin paint & primer in one. (Claims have been made that you don't even need to sand your piece before using it.  I know. These are big claims! More on that later.)

White is so clean and crisp. Its a way to keep the look modern, however vintage these chairs may be.   I love how the original hardware is still in tact. It only took a few hours to spray paint these bad jacksons, and I couldn't be more pleased with the result! One chair is in the little entryway space by the front door, while the other three chairs are around our kitchen table (which needs a makeover...). Sorry about the grainy photos- my cannon ran out of juice so the iphone it was!