Thrifting Find: Before & After

Last month I found this vintage chair with a tablet arm (desk) for $3.99 at a local thrift shop and thought that it might be a cute addition to Grant's new bedroom...

Plan A was to strip the piece down to the base metal, maybe just seal it with a matte poly and paint the tablet with chalkboard paint....but as I started to strip the icky brown paint off, I soon realized that the chair was composed of various types of metals...and while I loved the metal on the seat and back, I did not like the metal used on the legs. 

Plan B was to spray paint the chair and to still do the tablet arm with chalkboard paint.  However, I had the hardest time deciding on a paint color (especially since I'm not sure about the color direction of Grant's new room), so I decided to paint it a metal color and went with copper.

So, without further ado, here is the Before (note the equally icky workspace I found)...

{forgot to take a photo before starting...but caught myself right after applying the first coat of stripper}

and the after...with copper and chalkboard paint...

{the chalkboard paint on the tablet turned out great and is already a big hit!  I also really love the copper paint paired with the matte finish of the chalkboard!}

I know it's crazy to be doing a project right in the middle of a move, but I really wanted to finish it up before the movers come on Thursday to pack and pick up all our stuff (hello, that's only 2 days away!)  They packed and picked up all our stuff on Monday that was in storage in Texas!  So, 3/4 of our belongings are already on there way to Australia!  Things are moving along well and quite swiftly!