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You need to sand off the shine before you put anything on it, otherwise paint will peel and stain won't get in. If you want it to look wood-ish, use stain. The easiest/cheapest way would be paint. Sand it JUST enough to get the shine off, use fine grade, so you don't have noticable lines. Paint does best with a few light coats that dry in between... 1st coat will not really cover much. It's ok. Let it dry, do it again. If you mess up, sand that spot a little, and do it again. It's up to you, if you have the area to do spray paint, cover the chair with a trash bag and go outside .. not next to cars or anything, and not if it's at all windy, cz dirt will get in paint.

Sand, stain, varnish I would imagine.

Those legs are bent plywood, in sanding off the varnish/urethane it would be easy to damage the thin surface coat. Your best option would be to paint it, rough the surface with synthetic steel wool, then prime with kilz or zinser then paint. If you want to keep the wood grain you could try over coating it with gel stain.

Lightly sand a bit, then remove all dust and degrease with ammonia or something and then spraypaint with acrylic or alkyd laquer. Like a spray paint can. They come in many colours and can give a very even satisfying result, much better than painting with a brush or roller. I would go for matt or satin look, but maybe you like shiny, then go for it. Use thin layers and try to not stay on one spot, always keep moving the can. Usually you can apply multiple layers pretty fast with spray cans.

Unless you want to keep the wood look.

edit: I wanted to add: disassemble the parts you want to paint and let the paint harden before you reassemble. multiple days.

You can probably just take the legs off instead of covering the chair in a garbage bag

You can paint over the finish that's currently on there. Scuff sand and paint.

If you want to use stain, you need to remove the clear finish first. Sand, stain, clear. Wipe-on poly is a good beginner clear coat.

Hey OP, I am willing to bet you don't really care if the legs have a nice woodgrain. Sanding, staining and sealing is a huge PITA and if this is your first time, and you don't have great tools and workspaces, it's not gonna turn out great.

May I make the simplest cheapest, and nicest-looking suggestion of all?

Satin-black spray paint.

$9 and about 5 minutes. All done. Get back to sitting in that chair and stop fiddling with it.

You could remove them and replace them

Very good point lol.

This is the way. Sound advice!

I wanted to do something like that with a cream-fabric piece and didn’t want to risk staining the fabric so I wrapped the legs in dark wood grain contact paper. I made a paper template (with enough to overlap) and tried that first. It turned out well and is so far from eye-level even my mother with a trade background didn’t know it wasn’t real wood.

A tinted poly (like PolyShades) can make an already coated wood darker. Main problem is adhesion. Get a test tin and try on the bottom.

You would want to do some sanding first or the paint will come off like nothing. Also a clear coat after would help with durability which is needed for the location of the feet. They will get kicked a lot.

This will be the easiest. You do this and some 120 sandpaper and you can get a pretty good finish for very little work.

I wouldn't use polyshades on a new project that is down to unfinished wood. But for touching up a finished piece it's great.

Shoe Polish

Dim the lights.

Sand and paint, finish sand and clear coat.

Wear sunglasses

I’d try blowtorching personally

You could try a compatible finish with some tint in it.

Turn off all the lights in the room.

Look in to using a spray toner. Search YouTube to see diy videos. Seal with a spray lacquer.

Heat gun

Yep, what he said. Get some light grit paper, like 300, so you don’t score the wood. Take the legs off. Rough them up, always going with the grain. Wipe it down and get all of the dust off. Put on the stain, which I suggest Minwax. You can get a small test can of it from Lowes or Walmart for a few bucks.

Light coat, as long as it’s evenly covered, going with the grain. Let that dry for a day. Come back and throw a light coat on the other side. Another day. Go back to the first side, and throw a second coat on, wait a day, do the other side. Wait one more day, then lay polyurethane.

I buy my Minwax gloss by the quart, but if you don’t woodwork much, just get a small can. Gloss is gonna be very shiny, if you’re into that. Satin is slightly less shiny. I love using polyurethane with my woodworking because it really makes the grain and the stain pop.

Now, for the stain and polyurethane, grab a handful of the cheap foam brushes from the paint section of Walmart, over by the rollers. I like using the 2”, as it fits perfectly in those small cans. After you use it, toss it, because the stain/polyurethane is gonna harden up and throw off the coverage.

The polyurethane is simple. Open the can, stir it up really good with a stick, and then start laying it. Sometimes the polyurethane will lift the stain out of the wood, so be light with the brush. Just get it saturated, but not dripping, and let the brush glide over the wood. As long as you’ve got total, even coverage, you’re fine. Get it onto a spot that’s level-ish. Given the curve, I’d say get a couple of boxes side by side, a few inches apart, and let it nestle in between. Let that sit overnight, checking it from time to time for the first hour or two, and lightly dabbing away any beads that might have runoff. Do the other side the next day.

Between coat one and coat two of polyurethane, you’ll notice little tiny air bubbles that have formed while the polyurethane was curing, and made the surface a bit rough. Grab your 300 sandpaper, and very lightly, scuff up the polyurethane until it’s all lightly scuffed and smooth. Clean the dust off. Put on the second coat.

Now that the first coat of polyurethane is acting as a barrier between the stain and the second coat, you can go a little heavier, make multiple passes, etc., as long as you don’t put it on so heavy as to get runs. When it dries, it should have a smooth as glass feel to it.

Long, yes, but easy and satisfying.

Strip the existing finish and ebonize the wood with iron acetate + tannin powder, and then apply a lacquer top coat.

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You can use dark tinted shellac on top of the finished wood as a quick fix. But paint would be easier

Or even better, a nice deep red semi glosse spray paint...

Pretty simple. Go to HD and get a can of stain and polyurethane in one. One coat and done easy.