French Grain Sack Chair
I recently gave this chair a makeover to go in my guest bedroom. It used to look like this:
And now it looks like this. I wanted to do a more neutral, classic style to go in the guest bedroom. I love the French grain sack chair style so that’s what I was aiming for.
It was cute before, but after two years of living with kids, the wood was covered with yucky stuff and the fabric was completely stained beyond recognition. It was used as a dining room chair but it won’t be anymore.
What’s funny to me is that doing this project the last time, it seemed very intimidating. But now that my DIY skills have expanded SO much in the last two years, doing this project took minutes and was so incredibly easy. I literally whipped it out in an hour, including drying time.
I didn’t even bother removing the old fabric, I just cut out a square large enough to cover the seat. I also got some extra batting I had to give it a bit more cushion (you really always should do this.)
To make the French grainsack style, I used a dropcloth and then taped it with blue tape: two skinny lines and one fat in the middle. Make sure you do this carefully or your lines will not be straight. But if they end up a little skewed, you can fix it by adjusting the tape a bit, which is what I ended up doing. I was just in a big hurry to get it all done.
Paint with a sponge paintbrush and dab it rather than pulling strokes. This is how you prevent bleed. Do a couple coats but you don’t want it completely saturated because that’s how it looks old.
Let it dry completely and then cover the pad, you can use this tutorial.
I painted the chair with the same color I used on the walls of my guest bedroom makeover, Benjamin Moore Hale Navy. Let it all dry and then put the chair pad back on the chair. Done!
How classic! That’s a beautiful looking chair…. sooooooo French! Looks just like what someone might find in a wonderful French kitchen. Matter of fact, the #1 restaurant in the US a couple of years (and in the top 10 many times) is the French Laundry in California. Their traditional apprentice aprons are the same shade of blue…. If you’re going to use your grainsack beauty in or near a kitchen, breakfast nook or dining room… think about adding a blue apron to the mix and/or blue hot pads, mittens — or more grainsack towels. I love what you’ve done!
Thank you so much! That’s the look I was going for.
LOL I’m glad I read your article. somewhere in my stuffed hoarder house I have a grain sack like that. well, it’s so heavy I don’t really know what it was meant for but I have it. it actually is woven in the round so no side seams. so cool that I hate to cut it.
I couldn’t imagine how you brought yourself to cut one. LOL
Actually if you read the post, it’s about using a drop cloth to paint an old French grain sack design onto it to give the appearance of using an old grain sack.