Rocking Chair Makeover

I found this old, well-loved rocking chair at a garage sale in the neighborhood. It was only $3, so I bought it, brought it home, and stuck in the garage until I had time to fix it up. Fast forward two years later....

(I am short on time, long on projects I'd like to accomplish)

I sanded the chair down and then accidentally left it outside during the one time it has rained in the last oh, 5 months? Yep. Anyway, the rain caused some weirdness to happen with the coating on the chair (i.e., it all flaked off and could now basically just be brushed away with a towel), so that made my job a bit easier. Not that I recommend leaving untreated wood out in the rain--not so good for the wood. We also had to repair the top right spindle on the chair. It was broken in half and just tied together with some twine, so we (and by we, I mean Lucas) reattached it with some tiny screws. Good as new!

I gave the chair a coating of spray on primer, followed by 2 coats of Rust-oleum Ultra Cover spray paint in Aqua. After everything had dried, I finished up with a clear topcoat and added a cushion from the summer clearance at Home Depot plus an adorable baby. If you try this at home, baby is optional.

This chair will be for outside use on our deck. The paint job is good, but not great--thus regulating itself for outdoor use. I will probably bring it inside if it should ever rain here again (not holding my breath for anytime soon, of course), just because I don't exactly trust my topcoat. I'm a novice spray painter, and I've seen what water did to this chair the first time around.

(also-please disregard the dead lawn in the background. no rain=watering restrictions=dry and dead grass=thriving chinch bug population).