How To Add Budget Seating To Your Home For Christmas

I’m sure you’re in the same situation as me. Your home is designed to cater for you and your family, their needs and requirements, all year round.

What you don’t bank on is a whole host of extra people in your home, particularly at Christmas and so often you don’t have enough seats to accommodate them all.

We have all resorted to the stack of fold up chairs from the garden, beach chairs and cushions piled onto stools – yep, we’ve all been there. And there’s nothing wrong with that, in can create a lovely, fun atmosphere at the dinner table.

But if you’d like something a little more permanent, yet don’t want to spend a fortune on new chairs for a one off occasion like Christmas you might like to do what I’ve done and revamp an old, inexpensive chair into something attractive, modern and perfect for your home.

Let me introduce you to the chair I’ve chosen for my little project.

It’s been in my family since the 1940’s and was part of the Utility Furniture scheme – a government created scheme to produce furniture during and just after World War II. It was designed to cope with the shortages of raw materials and rationing of consumptions.

I inherited this chair from my grandparents after they died and give it a remodel back in the 90’s. You can tell from it’s weary appearance it’s been languishing in my loft for a few years, but it has seen plenty of use in my home over the decades.

I felt it was time to bring it into the 21st century.

Recently, Dulux had challenged me to create something for my Christmas home using a range of colours from a palette which truly suited my colour schemes, so I was interested to see if I could combine them successfully.

Not one to back away from a challenge, I set to work preparing the chair, sanding, filling and cleaning.

It had last seen some paint around the late 1990’s when I’d applied a technique I’d seen on Changing Rooms using gold paint underneath gloss, then using wax to finish it and rub away some of the paint! Honestly, thank goodness we don’t do this anymore.

The colours I’m using for this project are all from the Love Palette from Dulux, available in January 2019 in emulsion, gloss and eggshell:

Writers Desk for the main body of the chair – a very dark, olive green
Easter Morn 2 – a bright yellow for the feet (an extra colour outside of the curated Dulux Love Palette)
Teal Lux – Slat 1 (left to right)
Storm Day – Slat 2
Fragrant Herb – Slat 3

There’s also a lovely warm white called Love Letter in this palette too which I haven’t used on the chair but could be included as a calming backdrop against this riot of colour.

It didn’t take long to add the first coat, and I applied the second coat later that same day.

Once I’d added my yellow accent feet it was time to re-cover the seat.

I chose a neutral, dark charcoal cord that would be hard wearing and blend easily with several rooms in the house. Using the old fabric as a template, I cut out the piece and staple gunned it into place.

The whole thing took just a couple of hours. And here’s the finished result.

Using the three accent colours on the slats, I kept the main body of the chair simple in the Writer’s Desk and then added the Easter Morn yellow feet.

I haven’t been too precious about the look of the feet, preferring more of a rough, dipped effect rather than a straight, cut-off line.

I think it looks exceptionally contemporary and just shows how new, fresh colour palettes can update the oldest of furniture, giving it a new lease of life at times like Christmas.

Furthermore, for a project like this you only need tester pots of paint and half a metre of fabric, so the cost is minimal. If you don’t have an old chair of your own, scour the charity shops to find something suitable.

And here’s the first glimpse of my Christmas tree this year! As you can see from these images, the colour palette works well against either a light or dark backdrop.