ritai Looks great! I think the table should be painted black.

Francique_Caribbean_Cuisine Francique The chair does look good but I do prefer the original.

susanintoronto I love it - the chairs look amazing. Definitely prefer the new look.

Penny Williams Love it! I have been looking for chairs like these on the cheap for about a year now. Hoping to find them someday soon and do a similar makeover (although I already have red in my rug and drapes so I'll go white, but love the tea staining idea for white fabric).

Sarah Greenman ritai - my next project is to paint that table black. You called it!

Darzy Fab makeover Sarah. Thanks for sharing with us!

nataliac Did you have do do any sanding ?

Sarah Greenman No, I didn't do any sanding. The B-I-N spray primer will stick to most anything and doesn't need a roughed up surface.

magistra13 I think the change is great! I've really been debating on whether to take an old, inherited dining set along with me on a move, and now I definitely will. It just needs some elbow grease and imagination! I would only have been able to replace it with a cheap set and I think the redone table will be so much more unique and a much higher quality. Thanks for sharing!

muscadinedelta You are to be congratulated on courage and good taste! And "loving the one you're with."

casapinka You absolutely rock. Kudos!

anewpennameandthata I like the room it goes in, too. Rather than paint the whole table, why not paint the top, or the rest, first and see if that is enough? Or paint just the legs black? I think it looks GREAT as it is. Pls post after photos!!

Shavonda Gardner Ahh Sarah, you've done it again! I absolutely love the new look and I think the black table will compliment it beautifully. I must say your home was one of the first homes I ever fell in love with on Houzz and I just love your blog. I, too, am pretty bold with my color and design choices so its wonderful to see others filling their homes with saturated colors and tons of personality. Long live eclectic spaces!!

aekbranding Gorgeous chair makeover. I have a honey-coloured bamboo dining set that I'd love to repaint in peacock blue or china red, like yours. Well done!

ckstevens I love the new chairs! Great job with the color and the fabric you chose. These chair makeovers are so fun because you can be creative and it's such an easy project. I have two chairs that I recently found, one for $7 and the other for $8. Check them out!

http://58waterstreet.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-8-chair.html

Christina de Armas wow! what a difference from old traditional cane chair to contemporary classic
beautiful
christinadearmasinteriors.com

aeykelbo "Love the one you're with..." Like that a lot. I also inherited a dining set from the previous owner of our apartment and I feel the need to do something with it to make it "ours." Re-upholstering will do wonders, but the dark surface of the table (actually, much like yours) has plenty of watermarks:(

I love the color already (and re-finishing is so much work), so I tried various products to clean it up... but nothing works. Do any houzzers out there have any good tricks for getting rid of old watermarks???

bananamamma I gave 6 of these chairs away just before our move a few month ago....darn! although I DO have lots of chairs...Sarah, you are gutsy, I'm not sure about the red, but it definitely POPS! fun! I am planning a chair makeover and have never asked for help on Houzz....this could be a first ..
I too think the table will be nice in black...but....I'm of the generation where the previous generation painted beautiful oak and woods turquoise, we then spent years stripping...so guess it just goes against the grain to paint...always say that if you keep things long enough...you're so 'out' you're back 'in' hahah...
Here is a photo of my chairs...what do you all think? white? offwhite? and that oak table (was my grandmothers

Sheila Schmitz Aeykelbo, here's a Houzz story on getting rid of water stains. I hope it helps!

Tile-Stones What a great transformation!

nikilyn207 I love that you said "love the one you're with." Now I'm looking at a couple of pieces I've been wanting to replace and wondering if I could find a way to love them. They're mine. I can change them if I want to.

gknee Terrific makeover!

bubblyjock -> aeykelbo - I've used a product by I think Wilkinson's that re-creates a damaged finish - you simply wipe it with the grain, and it also removes white rings.

-> Sarah - IME don't have a black table - it shows every speckle of dust, catpaw-print, etc. How about a tea-toned white, a shade lighter than the chair fabric? F&B have a HUGE range of "whites" in super finishes.

Also -> Sarah - has the new red paint stuck well to the basket-weave on the chairs? Do you think it will stay pliable enough, or flake off?

ariadne2095 Great job! I love the chairs. I think the high gloss really sets off the new color. I'm a fan of imperfect rooms, so i would leave the table as is. Lol.

Sherry Mau just came across this read and thought your chairs looked great! here's chairs that i re-did(got these chairs for free on craigslist):

happydays Great Job : ) love the chairs

Dawn Smith Love the amazing transformation.

Makeda Sylvester The original fabric should have been removed first, and then the cushions should have been covered in muslin. This would have helped give it a very professional look as well as preventing any original fabric from showing or telegraphing through.

davesmac Wonderful! Looks great. I would keep the table in the original finish. The wood tone adds warmth & a more organic feel than the black paint would. Also, a black table would get lost/blend into the dark walls.

Lilly nunes Great idea. Love the new look I agree on coloring the table too. Post picture when you do!

Tracey I just got the same fabric from IKEA!! I love it! Thank you!!

christmanart Iwant to try this. How many coats of red paint?

Sarah Greenman I only did one coat of red spray paint. But I used a base coat first!

carolannr Great job on those chairs. I would leave the table.

maureenrowland I agree with Ritai the table should be painted too! Great job on the chairs though

DUEALBERI They look great, congratulations Sarah!

Coby Smit brilliant! i love it!

jimzeichman Now that's my kind of project! Seeing those red chairs put a smile on my face. I agree with Davesmac to keep the wood table as is. The wood finish is warmer. Paint it black and it will show every bread crumb, every speck of dust. Glad that one coat of red worked out for you but I would highly recommend two light coats. The second coat will even out the first and make it look richer. Great job!

betty1950 Love the step by step instructions, wish more articles would include this. Looks great!

evelynfried These chairs are worth thousands begore you pained them. I inherited similar set, euphostered and pained the room, chagedcaccesoriesbut wld never dream of painting over that beautiful French finish.

portlandoni I had almost the same table and chairs given to us when we had our first house, I wish I would have seen your post back then (of course we didn't have computers then so that would be pretty difficult). I always thought that the furniture looked too old for us and couldn't wait to replace it. I would have been able to keep it a lot longer if I had thought of trying this! Great job.

mariehelen I have the same dining set, but with a rectangle table. The chairs need work, but red wouldn't work in my house. The cane on my chairs needs help. What could I do?

ltoby Would you use polyurethane as a topcoat on the table as well? I can't wait to see the results. I have a table waiting for a project like this.

wantsideas Thanks for the before and after pictures. LOL about love the one you are with. Great job!

jctate2 Awesome! Love what you've done with the one you are with

Sarah Greenman ltoby - yes, I would use a polyurethane coat on the table when and if I paint it. For now, the table is working for me.

And to evelynfried about the set being worth thousands - I don't think it is. It's a pretty cheap knock off set that I tried to sell and consign, but no one would buy them. The chairs are pretty damaged and the sixth chair is already beyond repair. The table is mightily chipped up as well and the leaf has extensive water damage. So I felt confident about painting them. I have lots of beautiful antique wood pieces in my home that I would NEVER dream of painting. Luckily, this dining set does not fall in that category.

Amy W Thanks for this great tip! I really need to do this with my dining chairs. The fabric is so stained and this will solve that.

CAROLE MEYER This is a great way to make old furniture look new and contemporary. I love the final look. (I like the contrast of the "new" painted chairs with the original table. If they had painted the table black it may make the look too harsh)

honeylove55 Looks amazing and your description of How To was perfect . I will definitely try this. I know that your table is now black and you are thrilled !! Great article..

Laurie at Bird in Hand VTG Chairs look fantastic in the unexpected color! Love the subtle contrast and warmth of the wood table in this room. Thanks for a great post!

candyjayne3917 Wonderful transformation! I'd definitely leave the table alone. It's part of the equation of what makes this room work. From a practical standpoint, it'll be much harder to get a clean, blemish-free surface using spray paint on a broad table-top. Much easier to see flaws and will take more wear and tear. It's a whole different project requiring a different technique. Leave it...it's gorgeous, as-is!

Camille Simmons These look really great, I just upgraded my dining chairs as well with a bright modern peacock blue

karenjg Love your new chairs! If all goes well and we successfully close escrow, my family will be inheriting all of the furniture you see in this picture. It is not our taste, and I am thinking I might try something similar to what you did with your chairs. I would also want to do something with the table base. We will be repainting the walls white immediately (they are actually pistachio colored, not yellow as they appear in this picture) -- maybe BM White Dove? -- so as not to compete with the view). I am thinking maybe blue chairs would tie into the ocean view. Any suggestions? Fabric ideas? We will be replacing the light fixture above the table, the fish painting, and, eventually, pretty much everything in there, including the table and chairs. Our taste is clean and modern, but the condo will also be a vacation rental, and so durability is also a concern. Thanks for any and all ideas!

kdsntime Beautiful! Just love the pop of color!

karenjg Another view

Rivers Colorworks+Design Love the new look, especially with the slate gray walls. I'd agree, paint the table a gloss black. And I also would suggest using an upholstery weight fabric on the chairs. That Ikea fabric you can see through. Not durable enough.

imissliberty Tea, by definition, is made with tea leaves and boiling water. Hot water makes not-quite tea, which is why I never order it at restaurants (the water isn't boiling and not-quite tea is not quite tasty).

I would suggest boiling a saucepan of water, adding the tea bags (no more heat), and let sit for five minutes to get all the tannins out of the tea, then add the tea (the liquid, not the bags) to hot (or maybe room temp) water and fabric. The color should be more intense, and/or require fewer tea bags. My experience with tea is that it stains fabric even when cold, so I would think this method would work the same or better.

I suppose you could also simmer them, which isn't recommended for good tasting tea, but which might make a darker color (requiring fewer tea bags).

ddowgiel love this! I have been dying to paint my dining room a navy and have some brightly colored chairs. Alas a rental! Looks fabulous!

jojosail2 Fabulous. Now do the table base in a different color, leaving the surface unpainted.

scoobydubious You just made them equally ugly (or moreso) in a different way.
When that spraypaint starts to chip, and it will, you'll realize you have the equivalent of junky thriftstore cr*p. Especially that wicker.

bubblyjock but scooby, didn't you notice she said they were free with the house? So, for the cost of another can of paint, she can give them another coat in a different colour! Still great value for money, I'd say.

scoobydubious @bubblyjock

Who cares if they were free if the transformation didn't improve them.

They went from ugly to super-tacky/ugly.

bubblyjock lol - OK, then, scooby! I guess beauty is always in the eye of the beholder/one man's meat is another man's poison, etc, etc, etc.

I'm not saying that's necessarily a beautiful dining set, I'm saying more that the OP has done a great job cheering up an otherwise discard dining set so at least she and her family can live with it!

Jae Vinson I like how easy it is to update chairs. I did the same with 2 chairs I found at Goodwill - painted and reupholstered to coordinate with the 4 I already had.

http://www.designocd.com/2011/07/latest-find/

dortheaseybold To each their own, but That was a lovely patina on those old chairs.

mbsc0511 This looks fantastic. I love the bold color. I say go with the black table! I painted an old family dining set just last summer, but kept the needle-point work done by a grandparent. Each chair has a different needle-point pattern, but in the same colors. More recenlty, I have been repainting the same set an avacado green to brighten it up.

Uncurly Brazilian Keratin Straightener I don't know whether to laugh or cry! I did the same thing--different colors--with an almost identical set of table and chairs. I would never have bought the "Italian Provincial" 70s dining set, but my in-laws left it behind and it was well-made (Kindel) even if ugly. Looked good afterward, too. Or much, much better, at least. Nothing could change the fundamental unappeal of the lines...

But after all that--AFTER ALL THAT!!--my teenage son smashed two of the chairs during a tantrum. Then one of our dogs put a paw through a cane back. I consoled myself by saying I'd never really liked them, which was true, but when I saw how nice these looked, I wish I could at least have sold them on Craigslist.

Christabel Ilamaha wow the set looks good

Studio NOO Design Wow, congrats ! love red...

Nina To Ritai...I totally agree...table would look awesome in Black....

fernleaf I liked the original chairs.

Dar Eckert Love it! Don't paint the table black. The contrast between the wood and painted chairs is perfect and the style of the chairs match the table so they still go together.

nataliac I love it. Sorry about the rude comments. I think it is wonderfully that people have different taste. I have many friends w houses that are totally different than mine. But we are able to see the beauty in all of them. Btw.. Love the oranges on the table.

junkport Cute! My sis and I just painted and recovered similar chairs

Madison Modern Home Simply stunning! The rest of the room is gorgeous as well!

backinohioagain I think the chairs are fun! I'm wondering how it would have looked if you'd left the cane backing it's original color. Love it though.

peterjh1964 I found in a second hand store a chair for $8.00. I sanded it myself and taped it (to save some money) than I took it to a auto paint shop. I bought the car lacquer (none-metalic) for $38.00 and paid $40.00 for having it professionally spray painted at the shop. Here are the results. Oh, btw, I had the fabric already in my possession. I saw it one day downtown LA (way before I even had the chair to upholster), fell in love with it and bought it.

shannonrw I love the chairs and the future black table is perfect. I want to know about the chandelier.... Where did you get it.

Sarah Greenman shannonrw - the light is from CB2 and is called the equator light. We love it!

creativetkr Very nice!

chey22 This is really nice, and I have always wanted to know how to remake or update furniture, great job!

Carolina Girl Cheers to you! You have made a truly bold change. It takes a lot of confidence to step out and make such a bold change and it looks awsome!

Julie Ranee Photography What a transformation! Love the RED.

fotoladysince9 I love the new look

artisticnel Absolutely beautiful

jpig Thank-you! I have been sanding down the table and chairs that came with my house in order to re-paint the set. I will be getting some of that spray paint tomorrow!

madaboutdesign0924 I have four antique oak chairs with caned seats that I bought 35 years ago. They are in excellent condition, and have been been part of my dining room furniture over the years. Although I currently don't use them in my present house, they have sentimental value because I remember shopping for them with my mom just after I got married. Seeing the red chairs, I am tempted to modernize them with a coat of paint, but as others here have relayed, they may be valuable. I believe I will get them appraised before I do that! If I decide I want to paint chairs a fun color, I'll look at Goodwill or the flea market for them, and paint away to my heart's content. GREAT IDEA. Thanks, Houzz.

Sue Painting & recovering chairs can be a cheap & EZ transformation. Here is my before & after. Only cost $15 per chair!

dalma darling I'm inspired!! Thank you so much for the great article. I have a vintage high chair that I'm painting for my little darling and have been hesitant to start for some reason. Your tutorial has given me the confidence to go for it.

renochickee I too, don't like the idea of painting beautiful old wood pieces but anything mass-produced since the 50's is fair game. Those particular chairsare probably just crappy, fruitwood or pecan-finished with the phony worm-hole markings and such or that faux French-provincial look that was popular when my Mom bought her set. You know when they bought everything all matchy-matchy chairs/table/buffet and hutch.