Ikea Stenciled Chair

When Architectural Digest posted this article Donald Judd–Inspired Furniture, Now at IKEA Prices, I clicked… then I shopped! The chair, designed by Issa Diabaté, is made from a single sheet of unfinished plywood and was crafted with only a jigsaw, so you won’t spot any nails or screws interrupting the design.  It was my favorite item in the Överallt collection and thought it would make the perfect canvas for a makeover.

I headed to Artist and Craftsman in Gowanus for some vibrant paint and paint thinner as I used a friends spay gun to speed up the paint process.

Look at the parts, simple right? And easier to paint!

The spray gun was a challenge for me to learn. Our friend Mario had it down, his is the bottom left piece, nice and even. Well, he evened out all the pieces in the end and it all became this deep, vibrant blue. This was inspired by my trip to Marrakech, visiting the Jardin Majorelle.

Mario spraying the wood. You can also brush on your base coat.

Next I placed the stencil on the surface and centered the design. Planning was key here to get a symmetrical look. I taped the sides so I would not paint outside the stencil and I taped over the registration marks so I wouldn’t accidentally paint inside of them.

Then I marked the registration points on the stencil with a chalk pencil. I can easily wipe this away when done. These marks allow me to repeat the stencil on the surface.

I was doing to brush the design on but went for a foam dense roller application instead.

Here’s the seat and backrest pieces. I purposely distressed the design in parts by going light with the roller.

These are the side pieces and a front piece that holds up the seat.

Here’s the final piece, I love how it came out, makes me want to do several more. This stencil is yet to be available from us, it’s a new design releasing soon. Please share your stencil1 makeovers with us at @Stencil1