Rocking Chair Makeover

Making an old rocking chair such as this one look new can seem like too big a challenge for someone with little artistic ability, but you can do it! Here are a few tricks I used to turn this red rocker into the perfect addition to my new classroom. 

Our class mascot Clark relaxing on the old chair!

What you'll need:

Printer paper

A pencil

A printed image (explanation to follow)

Paint!

Step 1: Paint a base color. 

I chose to go from red to white. The bright white really lightens up the windowless Fish Tank classroom of mine and allows other colors on the chair to pop!

Step 2: Print the image you want to transpose onto your chair. 

I happen to LOVE the Harry Potter Series and I am certainly a reading/writing type of gal, so I went online to find a JK Rowling quote to include on my chair. I chose: "“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic." Awesome, right?!

Once you've chosen your quote (or picture - black and white works best), print it out in the style you like. The image should be the exact size you want it to appear on your chair. 

Next, flip the paper with your image over, take your pencil and COMPLETELY shade in the back side. That's right, nice and dark! 

Finally, place the paper (image side up) on your chair where you want it drawn. Simply trace the image on the paper with a pen. You may want to tape the corners down to keep the paper from moving. When you life the paper up you will have a perfectly drawn pencil image. Yay!

Step 3: Paint it!

Now that you have the outline drawn on your chair, all you have to do is paint it! Sorry, I don't have a trick for this part, but it certainly should be much easier than painting it freehand! Paint pens are helpful as well (I bought mine at AC Moore).

Here's my final product: 

Good luck and happy crafting!