Mad Men Inspiration for Retro Chairs

Enthused by blankets being used as  upholstery I was on the hunt for old wool blankets much to my sisters joint horror! So it meant I was kind of half hearted doing it and thinking how difficult it may turnout out to be, so I stopped looking for the blankets and starting browsing around for chairs online. I was amazed by the amount of people looking to emulate the current popularity of Mad Men and how it has filtered down not only into fashion but also interiors with interior designers, shops, boutiques and https://www.pinterest.com/ awash with Mad Men fever......

I came across two check/ tweedy looking chairs that I thought were a possibility for my own private Mad Men look especially as from far away they looked "brownish" but upon closer inspection I could see they had a couple of distinct threads running through them which coincided with my next project I had in mind which was to find an opportunity to mix a few of the Chalk Paints™ by Annie Sloan to see what colours were possible.

(image courtesy of the Chair Depository http://thechairdepository.blogspot.ie/2011/10/inspiration-blanket-upholstery.html

So now my challenge was to turn my original pair of chairs into something Mad Men, vibrant and fun ( a tall order!) and to do this whislt exploring a new choice of colours which I would mix. The two colours I liked in the fabric were a deep pinky/purple like an antique fuchsia and a coral colour. 

(photo taken on the street when I first saw the chairs outside a antiques/vintage store in Dublin city centre)

Mixing Paints, Time to Explore..

So I started to mix 

(mixing Emile and Emperor Silk to make the Antique Fuchsia colour I was looking for and then mixing Barcelona Orange with Emperor Silk to make the Coral toned colour )

Its best just to take your time and I added literally spoon by spoon until I had the colour and tone I had in my head. If you are nervous about doing this then it is time I directed you to an Chalk Paint™  by Annie Sloan veteran and expert who has come up with a fantastic tool whereby you can input the colours you want to mix and you get to see how much you need to add of each percentage wise in order to achieve your colour of choice. 

http://www.thepurplepaintedlady.com/paint-mixer/

It is trial and error and if you are worried, to save you, read this fantastic post by The Purple Painted Lady,

a shining light in the world of Annie Sloan and a true innovator http://www.thepurplepaintedlady.com/2014/05/emperors-silk-chalk-paint-tell-me-all-about-it/

So I painted the first chair in my Antique Fuchsia colour and my second chair in the Coral colour and I am really happy with the result. I then sanded both chairs off, and I applied a lot of wax and then repeated the process. Then I used a brush to buffer them off. 

If you are still looking for that Mad Men Inspiation, read below: 

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/14393727/list/Why-We-Love-Midcentury-Modern-Design