Recently while perusing the aisles of our local Salvation Army store, Mr. Frugalista came across a set of four Duncan Phyfe style dining chairs for $20.00 each. When he sent me the text I was doing a happy dance around the house because recently we gave a Duncan Phyfe Style Dining Table a makeover for our dining room and were in need of chairs.

With just a little paint and new seat upholstery, they couldn't be a more perfect match for our dining room.

Duncan Phyfe Dining Chair Set Makeover

I couldn't be more happy with the results and they were so easy to do. The white paint and lime green accents in the new fabric work beautifully in our dining room. Here is a link to the Duncan Phyfe Style Dining Table makeover.


Before I get into the details of the makeover let's take a look at what the chairs looked like before. They had a glossy finish and someone took two pieces of fabric, stuffed a thin layer of foam between them, and glued it over the existing seat fabric. Now that's some fancy-schmancy upholstery job!


Painting them white made all the lovely details in the wood pop.

The scoop on the Duncan Phyfe Chair makeover

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Painting the Duncan Phyfe Chair Frames

The first order of business was removing the glossy finish on the wood. To do this I scuffed it first with 150-grit sandpaper to give the primer and paint some bite.

The chairs are mahogany which is guaranteed to cause paint bleed where the tannins in the wood bleed through the paint, especially when painted a light color like white. To avoid this I brushed the chairs with one coat of clear shellac primer first.

Again like the table, I didn't want them painted a bright white nor an antique white so I mixed a 50:50 ratio of Old White and Pure White Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

Painting an entire set of dining room chairs is daunting and so I sprayed the chairs with my go-to paint sprayer. They needed three coats for complete coverage but boy did a sprayer speed up the process.

Distressing the Duncan Phyfe Painted Chairs

Once the last coat of paint was completely dry I gave the chairs a shabby chic distressed finish just like the base of the table. To do this I used a sheet of 220-grit sandpaper and removed some of the paint along the edges and details of the painted wood.

Protecting the finish on the Duncan Phyfe painted chairs

Using a round wax brush I applied a coat of clear wax, wiping the excess with a lint-free rag. Next, I brushed dark wax making sure to get it nestled into the ridges and around the details of the chair. I lighting removed the excess dark wax with a lint-free rag. I let the wax sit for about 15-30 minutes before buffing it to a matte finish.

Replacing seat fabric on the Duncan Phyfe chairs

I found the pretty fabric at our local Fabricland store and the green pairs beautifully with the colors in the adjacent living room. Upholstering the seats on dining chairs is super easy. But if you've never done it before you'll need a staple removal tool (trust me, your fingers will thank you), and a heavy-duty upholstery stapler.


I don't start any upholstery project, big or small, without having this amazing The Complete Guide To Upholstery book by my side. I call it my upholstery bible.

My apologies for not taking photos of the upholstery process but hopefully the instructions below will help.


In the photo below you can see the big void on the opposite side of the table. We repurposed an old headboard and footboard to make this Headboard Dining Bench and it couldn't be more perfect.


If you have any questions about this makeover, please leave them in the comment section below or press the Contact Me button at the top of the blog to drop me an email. I love hearing from you!



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