Milk paint or chalk paint is super-matte, which gives painted furniture a distinct shabby-chic aesthetic. We love the extra-distressing on this chair, finished with a generous coat of furniture wax for a durable seal. This faux-finish style is perfect for families with kids or busy people who aren't precious with their furniture.

The wax seal protects the paint. But if the chairs earn a few more dents by getting knocked around, they'll blend right in with the existing distressing. It's the perfect choice for old, beat-up chairs you don't want to spend a lot of time re-finishing.

With a little practice and a paint sprayer, you can create unicorn-blends of colors on your painted chairs for an ethereal accent piece in any room of your home. This dreamy color blending is perfect for a nursery or office that needs a little extra flair. Depending on the colors you pick to blend, you can fit this DIY painted chair into any aesthetic.

We just love how a throw softens the rocker, transforming a wooden chair into a cozy and welcoming furniture addition. You can even pull color inspiration from a throw blanket, pillow, or area rug.

Painted chairs aren't just for shabby chic homes. Get some furniture ideas from the geometric patterning and metallic paint on this crush-worthy chair.

People sometimes think that painted chairs are only for rustic cottages and kid rooms. But metallic paint can upcycle any thrift store or bargain chair into an elegant addition to any room in your home. Creating geometric patterns like this chair will turn into extra seating to accent pieces in your home.

One thing we just love about painting chairs is the way you can bring together distinct styles of furniture with matching or coordinated paint choices. Perfect for blending chairs from two homes or creating a unified looked for a bunch of thrift store finds. Sometimes, it might be the most affordable way to create enough seating for a party or wedding reception.

You can cruise thrift stores, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace to find cheap and free wood chairs. A few coats of paint and you'll have unified seating, with a little extra flair of style. Use coordinated colors for an even more elevated style.

As true DIYers, we can put immense pressure on ourselves to get projects perfect, even undertakings as simple as painting a chair. DIY doesn't mean doing everything like a professional on the first try. Painted chairs get more personality with a few imperfections.

Not everything we do has to be perfect or even excellent the first time. Practice makes perfect, and learning how to roll with the flaws will serve you better, not just in your home DIY craft projects, but also for the rest of your life.

We just adore how, with a bit of painters’ tape, you can create a contemporary look for wood thrift store furniture. How creative is this simple and stylish chair? It uses high-quality white paint and the original stained wood to create a chair that would look stellar in a contemporary kitchen or simple Scandinavian home.

It shows you don’t need advanced paint techniques or special equipment to transform upcycled chairs. A little inspiration and creativity go a long way.

Busted chairs can get a second life as benches with a little DIY and a fresh coat of paint. Some chairs are too far gone for a full restoration with just a coat of paint. That doesn't mean their destiny lies in the landfill.

If you're looking for affordable outdoor furniture or extra seating in your home, check out these chairs reimagined as benches. It requires a little more expertise and effort than cleaning and painting, but your reward for the initiative is a unique bench in your home or yard.

Keep parts of the chair stained and pair it with complementary paint for a bold accent or side chair. We saw before how you can use the original wood stain of a chair and just add color. This project involves disassembly and sanding the chair down before applying a fresh stain.

The extra steps and extra effort pay off big when you're able to combine a luxe walnut stain with robin's egg blue paint like in this chair. It's a more involved project, but an excellent way to stretch your skill-set once you have a few painted chairs under your belt.

Use stencils for paint chairs to add in even more artistry. Think outside the box, like the negative space on this chair seat. You don't need to be a skilled draftsman to execute a chair like this one. Craft stores and hobby shops have stencils available to help you add designs to the chair's seat and backrest.

You can use two or more colors. Or try out the use of negative space, leaving the stained or bare wood as the design. For guest rooms, kids' rooms, and home offices, you add personality and expression to something simple as a wood chair.

You can highlight the natural features of a chair, like the ornate details in this example, with a carefully applied coat of paint. When you can find a chair with this much artistry and detail, it's worth it to use color to highlight the gorgeous features that people might otherwise overlook in the stain.

The bright coral paint in this chair is a bold choice. While bright pastels may not be your first choice in home decor, consider how good the chair looks. The coral paint makes the dark stain stand out, and it’s perfect with the subdued decor of the room. Sometimes, boldness pays out big.

Graphic elements in a painted chair can turn it from lackluster to daring. Use inspiration from the design elements in your home or kitchen. Something like painted grain sack lines is a perfect design element to tie together painted furniture, kitchen hand towels, and even artwork in your home.

It doesn't take much to execute either, just use the lessons from earlier in the list. Painters' tape is the perfect way to make straight lines on furniture. Embrace the imperfections; a few wobbles add handmade charm to a painted chair.

Bright colors and painted designs are perfect for chairs for kids. You can use inspiration from nature, kids' literature, or even cartoon characters. These small chairs are the ideal place to use bright crayon colors and fun stencils.

You can have a lot of adding kids' favorite characters to the chair and using wild colors that you might not otherwise get to use. Let kids contribute their ideas, and help with the painting.

There are many painting techniques out there that result in surprising effects and finishes. Poured paint requires a bit of a 'breathe and let go' mentality. But if you're not about precision, using this technique is a grand way to get a designer painted chair without a lot of fuss.

Adding in metallic paint to any situation brings in glitz and glam, perfect for geode-inspired decor. Even if your style is more traditional, one or two accent pieces like this will bring drama and tension to a room.

You can even achieve subtle sophistication with a painted chair. This ombre effect is perfect for the dining room chairs in a summer beach cottage, or just to add flair to your decor at home.

We're into ombre-everything from painted walls to chairs, to pandemic tie-dye projects. But a set of these stylish chairs are a way to make bargain furniture look like a million dollars. It's proof you don't need to spend a lot of money to have a gorgeous, thoughtfully decorated home.

You might think you can only paint chairs that don't have upholstery. But we just love the effect of painting the fabric of a seat to match the painted wood. It's a brilliant solution to some out-of-style (or just plain ugly) fabric on an otherwise gorgeous chair.

It's also an excellent way to hide stains and blend in your painted chair with the rest of the decor in the room or house. We don't recommend tackling an upholstered recliner with this technique. Still, for fabric seats and backrests, it's an outside the box idea with limitless potential.