And Debbie, about the old chairs.
* I cleaned them well with a damp cloth
* Brushed a coat of water based Kilz on each chair, this sort of seals the wood fairly well and also adds a coat that makes the colors go on more easily
* Decide on the basic color you are using and paint over the dried Kilz. Sometimes if the wood is old and dry it takes 2 coats of Kilz.
* After base color is done, then add your trim colors.
The whole thing takes a lot of drying time because you need to let each color dry before you put anything else beside that color.
That's about it. Just paint your design and then coat it with some kind of Clear coat or polyurethane and you're done.
I used all water based paint and most of it is indoor/outdoor acrylic. Latex would work too but the good colors are the acrylics you find in craft stores or departments. I mix a lot of my own colors too, so sometimes I just have the primary colors and white, maybe black to start with.
