Hey there friends! How’s your summer junkin’ and thrifting going? So far my junkin’ season is off to a great start! Despite being a little strange with all of the concerns about social distancing I have still managed to luck into some great finds. Last weekend a friend of mine posted an old wicker rocking chair on facebook for $30. I had been wanting a wicker or faux wicker rocker for our front porch for quite some time, but new ones can be pricey, and old wicker pieces are usually in poor shape. The pictures online looked pretty good, so I took a drive to my friend’s house for a better look. After checking that it had “good bones” and it didn’t smell like mold or mildew, I offered her $25.00 for it. SCORE! *This post contains affiliate links.

With the exception of a few little broken pieces of wicker, the chair was in really good shape. The only problem was that someone had previously spray painted it a metallic silver color, which wouldn’t quite work with my French famrhousey-vintage style. I decided to paint the chair black to match our black metal porch furniture.  Luckily we had several cans of black spray paint in our garage left over from a previous project. Dye to health issues I rarely use toxic spray paint, but it really is the best option for getting down in all the cracks and crevices of wicker and I wanted to be sure to encapsulate mold spores that might be hiding out.  Luckily it was a beautiful day and I was able to paint outside in an open space with lots of fresh air.

Here it is after 4 cans of spray paint. The chair looked pretty good here, but I didn’t like the slight shine of the satin finish. Also, the seat needed a little more paint. Due to health issues I rarely use toxic spray paint, but it really is the best option for getting down in all the cracks and crevices of wicker and I wanted to be sure to encapsulate mold spores that might be hiding out.  Luckily it was a beautiful day and I was able to paint outside in an open space with lots of fresh air.

The first can I used was Rustoleum Spray Paint in Satin Black and it had excellent coverage. I probably could have finished the whole chair with only 3 cans had I had more Rustoleum, but the other 3 cans were cheapy spray paint so they didn’t cover as well. Next time I will pay the extra money for the Rustoleum.  I also used a comfort grip spray paint can sprayer attachment which made things go a lot faster helped keep my hands from cramping up.

Here on the arm you can see that the black almost has a shine to it. I wanted a more matte finish and better overall coverage, so I grabbed my little magic jar of Dixie Belle Chalk Mineral Paint in Caviar (black) for my desired paint color and finish.

I love, love, LOVE Dixie Belle chalk mineral paint and  dark wax and clear wax!  I have used Dixie Belle on so many funiture pieces and makeovers you have seen here on my blog on Instagram.

Dixie Belle Caviar is really the perfect farmhouse black color. After just brushing a light coat of the paint over the chair all  of the shine was gone. The harsh, glossy black became a smokey, matte farmhouse black which I love! I am out of clear wax but I plan to pick some up this week to seal the chair.

At this point I had no idea what I was going to use for a seat cushion or back cushion, especially since it is not a standard size or shape. Just to try it out for size, I grabbed a green seat cushion off of one of my antique metal porch chairs. I  just happened to glance down at the French burlap sack I was using on our little porch ottoman table as pictured here on my Early Spring Porch Tour:

I attached the sack to the back of the chair to see how it would look, and as it turned out I loved it! The colors of the graphic lettering were a perfect match with the color of the chair!

I still had some money left on my Joann influencer gift card from the Grand Opening of the Lexington, KY Joann that I promoted last fall, so I quickly ran down to our local Joann to have a piece of thin foam cut to fit down inside the sack.

Instead of sewing or hot gluing the sack together with the foam inside, I used black command strips like you would use velcro strips on the two inside center pieces of the sack and stuck them together to form a temporary seam. I also attached the strips to the back of the chair and the back of the sack to get the seat to stay in position.  This way I can quickly remove the sack in case I want to use in a tablescape or anywhere else and then put it back on the chair afterward. After a week of porch rockin’ the the “cushion” is still in place!

In this photo I was temporarily using a green outdoor chair cushion from one of our other porch chairs. I ended up finding a seat pad from Lowes this week in the same color and it is a perfect fit for the seat and makes the chair so comfy! For a finishing touch I used some burlap ribbon to “tie on” the sack and voila! A new (old) French farmhouse style rocking chair for our front porch! We have had the chair on our porch for a week and we all love sitting in it.

 I  have enjoyed using the chair to rest with some magazine reading and watermelon eating while throughout the day when I am gardening. The pollenapocalypse is finally over and I began refreshing our porch for summer this weekend. I am planning an outdoor summer tour for July and I will share more photos of the rocker on the porch along with some porch, patio, and landscaping changes then.

I hope this post has inspired you to snatch up the next piece of wicker you come across on your junkin’ adventures. What are your thoughts on wicker porch furniture? I love hearing from you, dear readers! 

 Thanks for visiting today!

Amber