Happy Kitty Bunny Pony Gilded Kid’s Chair

A friend gave me this Happy Kitty Bunny Pony book for my birthday a few years back and I’m still obsessed. So much so, that I bought a second one to cut up for diy artwork and other projects like the bunnys in these frames, and the cats below. 

My mom found this wooden school chair on the curb near her house and left it on our porch. (I’ve inherited my love of chairs and picking up roadside trash to treasures from her!) It was covered in stickers and had been painted a few times (really poorly). Thinking “oh, that’s cute” I stuck it in the basement with the other junk treasures. Then it hit me! Gold spray paint + happy little animals = Adorable chair makeover for Lola!

So, here’s what I did in this chair makeover.

The chair was pretty clean, no cobwebs or dust really so I skipped the wiping it down and went straight to the spray paint. I left the stickers on the chair because I knew I would be decoupaging over them and it wouldn’t matter much. It’s f-f-freezing here so I was left to spray paint in the basement. (Sorry for the dark, prision-style basement photos.)

I did 2 coats of gold spray paint and then brought it upstairs into the light. You can still see the stickers, but I didn’t mind much. And the multiple coats of previous-owner paint kind of made it kind of look like gold leaf. Again, I didn’t mind much. I already knew this one was just for fun and might not be perfect.

Next, I agonized over cutting pictures out of the book. So much cute!! I found the ones I liked best and then proceeded to make a big mess. Everywhere.

I laid out the images I liked in a half planning/half winging mode on the chair where I thought I’d like them. I used Mod Podge on a plastic lid from the recycle bin and a foam brush from the craft store.

I coated the back of the image with Mod Podge and positioned it on the chair. Then I used a little MP on my fingers to smooth down the edges. Finishing with a layer over the top. Also, even after you position these (and MP over the top) you still have a little time to reposition and/or smooth out wrinkles in the image.

I started in the seat of the chair and worked my way around the chair. I only had a few casualties where I lost images that I tried to reposition. They were too wet and ripped. So I removed ’em and then replaced with another cute kitty or bunny.

I love the chair back with the blue kitty and the bunnys. Almost wish that I had done just those and the big white cat on the seat. I may revisit this one as the seat seems like I did too much, or maybe not enough?

I forsee this little chair traveling around the house quite a bit – sometimes it’s hers, sometimes it’s holding a backpack in the front entryway, sometimes a plant…and so on.

I learned a few things in this little makover – like it’s Mod Podge, not Modge Podge (All this time?!), that less is more, and that I really am addicted to gold spray paint.

Regardless, she loves this chair and it makes me laugh. Oh, and it got me making something so really that’s all that matters, right? Love it? Hate it? Be sure to tell me in the comments.

P.S. Any great tricks to use Mod Podge really well on wood?

www.simplesharebuttons.comThanks for sharing!