Red Chair Bench Tutorial - My Repurposed Life™

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This chair bench tutorial first appeared on Homeright.com.

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When I found these FREE very heavy and sturdy dumpster chairs, I knew they would make a fabulous triple chair bench, but what I didn’t know is that I would finally figure out how to get a dry brushed look using Homeright Finish Max instead of a paint brush!

These are the chairs as I found them at the dumpster. Sad and abused.

Those straight lines make these perfect for butting up side to side to make connecting them so very easy, even for a beginner.

When building a typical triple chair bench, it is customary to remove the legs of the middle chair. I decided to make this the ultimate easy triple chair bench by leaving all the legs.

I sanded the glossy (and gross) finish off of the three chairs. Then I secured them to one another using some Simpson StrongTie wood screws. You can see by the blue arrows where I secured the screws.

I used my favorite Finish Max to paint a base coat of diy chalky paint primer using black paint.

After mixing the chalky primer, always use a mesh paint strainer to make sure clumps don’t clog the Finish Max nozzle.

After doing the black chalky paint primer, I used an oops color that I thought was going to give me the old red I was going for. Not so much.

That’s totally okay, because it just gives me more of a base coat.

I went to one of my favorite reds from Heirloom Traditions Paint. This is Daredevil. This sample jar was practically empty and I was a little nervous, but I have complete faith in the fine finish I get from my Finish Max and how far paint goes in the paint container. For this technique—and because I didn’t have a lot of paint, I did dilute my paint with a little more water than I normally do. (VISIT HTP use the code MYREPURPOSEDLIFE and receive 10% off your order, free shipping plus a FREE gift)

Seriously!! Look how little paint is in that Homeright paint cup.

I did use nearly every drop out of the paint cup to get this chair bench painted RED. I intentionally did a VERY light coat by keeping the Finish Max further away from the project, making sure to NOT do full coverage. I love the look of an old glazed red, and I’ve been trying to perfect this technique with the paint sprayer so I don’t have to brush the paint on projects with spindles and legs.

Please note how little overspray there is with my Finish Max!

I get a lot of packages in the mail, and I always save the brown paper packaging. It is fabulous to use as a fine finish sandpaper. I used some to sand back a little more of the red paint to reveal the darker colors underneath.

I used a damp chunk of a sponge to apply some clear wax from Heirloom Traditions Paint, rubbing a little more of the red paint back as I went.

I had three pieces of scrap wide tongue and groove boards that had been given to me years ago. They were perfect for the seat of this bench!

I attached the boards with my nail gun. After sanding the boards to remove the squared edges, I was ready to stain/seal the seat.

But! I decided I loved the light color wood with the red, so I just did a wipe-on clear coat poly to seal the boards.

You could choose to put a lower shelf, but I went the easy route leaving lots of room for basket storage on the floor.

I am so happy with how this easy chair bench turned out. I believe it’s my favorite chair bench to date. I love the color and the simplicty of the lines.

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