I love rocking chairs, and for a few days I saw this one on the side of the road. My issue, I find that wicker is often discarded because it’s usually in really bad shape - there may be a hole in the seat, or parts of the piece are totally unwound. This chair, however, was in really great shape. It wasn’t perfect, but no huge holes, and just a bit of unraveling. Could I learn to wicker, is that what it’s called? What do you even call the stuff that you wrap around the legs, etc? I found out, and I have to be honest, I already forgot.. BUT i did learn that Berkeley has a great canning store, and that you go to a canning store for all things wicker.

The Details:

I power-washed, scrubbed and cleaned the chair. I then snipped off all the bits that were sticking out, or unraveling. I then rewrapped the arms, and parts of the underside of the chair.

Because this project was such a learning project, I decided to have a lot of fun with the color. I had passed by this dark/french blue many times at the hardware store and I always wanted to use it on something. It took a while to paint the chair, and quite a lot of paint. It’s a bit challenging to get into all the nooks and crannies. In some ways spray paint could have been easier, but I didn’t want to use spray paint - for a few reasons. First, even with a mask on spray paint still just really smells. Also, spray paint can run, causing drip marks. Most importantly, I loved this color and it didn’t come in a spray.

I love how it turned out. It’s like grannies old wicker rocking chair got a hip new makeover. Also, it’s a hit with the kids.