Patina Porch Rocker

This rocking chair was the ugliest little thing {rough in all the wrong ways} when I bought it at a yard sale for $4.00!

I started the makeover by aggressively sanding some of the original finish off the rocker.  I left over half of the original finish on, as these are the sections that will not readily absorb the new colored stain.  It's really difficult to mess up... I just think of it as speed weathering... sanding the places I imagine will wear over time.  Once you get going, it becomes easier to imagine, I promise.

Then I lightly-sanded entire chair with a finer sandpaper & coated the chair in the new stain using a sponge brush.  I used Behr Premium Weatherproofing Solid Color Wood Stain {in Mountain Spruce}.  I just bought a sample... & I could cover 20 more chairs. 

After the stain dried, I lightly sanded the chair again until I nailed the weathered look I was aiming for.  Again, sanding in the places I imagined would wear over time.

I coated the chair with a spray polyurethane {satin finish} to protect my newly antiqued & weathered look.

*If your re-done furniture sometimes feels a little rough from the spray-poly- a quick, light sanding with a very fine sandpaper should take care of any little bumps & bubbles in the finish!

*For different looks & varied "wear & tear," try using different textures of sandpaper.  I used very rough sandpaper on parts of this chair, followed by fine-  and on other parts, only fine textured.

A few details:

 

 

   & the before picture: {I had to use my cell phone... sorry for the terrible quality!}