Up-cycled art chair

We didn't have iPads or computers when I was growing up. We played in the garden and collected stamps when it was raining. If we felt a bit arty we cut up cereal boxes and made dolls houses or heated crisp packets in the oven to make our own shrink plastic. 

I knew one day my stamp collection would come in handy! I selected the brightest ones and weeded out the best ones that ' might be valuable' one day and added a few I had stashed ready for a project. Last weekend I went to the local boot sale to source my item to up-cycle. Within minutes I had found the perfect kitchen chair at a rock bottom bargain price. It was in a pretty bad way! 

First I sanded the chair. I tried bribing my children to do this part as I hate the preparation part of a job but they weren't interested, not even in a fiver! It took ages but  I was happy with smooth finish after a few hours. Then the fun part. I used copious amounts of mod podge to stick the stamps to the chair. I tried straight lines and minimal overlapping but that didn't look quite right. The slap it on and fill in any gaps approach worked so much better. I'm sure there are still a few gaps but you would need a magnifying glass to find them. The hardest parts were the corners and then making sure the perforations didn't stick out. The easiest way to do that was using mod podge with bare hands to smooth out any rough parts. The glue peeled off my hands like the PVA we used to use at school. I have unused two coats of non yellowing varnish to seal the chair and give it a tough durable finish. 

I think it would look great in a shabby chic style room or a contemporary boys bedroom. 

I've really enjoyed this project and now need to source more stamps for another. I think a Beano chair might be fun too.

The final ETSY listing.....click on the picture for more info.