DIY Ballard Designs Knock-Off Caned High Back Chair Makeover

I got my Ballard Designs catalog in the mail yesterday. It's like a visit from Santa every time it arrives. (I believe! I believe!) After 30 minutes of devouring every single page, I came away with one cold hard fact: 

I'm pretty sure I have that exact same chair in a closet in my basement...
That I got from Goodwill 2 years ago...and I had no idea what I had on my hands!

Until I saw this in the catalog yesterday:

Look closely.  STARTING at $449 PER CHAIR.

OR, you can get lucky like me and find THIS for $5 at Goodwill:

It's probably not actually from Ballard, but it is seriously identical...even down to the intricate leg detail.

It was dark brown wood when I found it (which was 2 years ago, and that was BEFORE I blogged, so no before pictures...sorry!) and didn't have a seat cushion, but at the time I thought it was neat.

Plus, for $5, I knew I could do something with it.

So, I painted it

 cut a plywood seat and upholstered it

 and trimmed it.

Here's what I ended up with:

I'm not sure where I'll put it yet, but I'm sure it will end up somewhere in the house.

Not too bad for a $500... $5 chair, huh?

To see my top 10 chair makeovers you can visit this post.

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