Can You Really Paint Upholstery?
Our living room and breakfast area is all one big space and I’ve decided to use the “breakfast area” as a sitting area instead. I would like to do a small round table with two upholstered decorative chairs. The only problem with this is that all the chairs I like are about $200-$300 a piece which isn’t in the budget. So naturally, I’ve been on the lookout for some used chairs that I can transform to be what I really want. I have zero experience in upholstering and little interest in trying so I’ve been reading up a lot on painting upholstered furniture. YES – it’s really a thing! I’m super intrigued by this method and wanted to do as much research as possible to make sure this is setting me up for success.
I asked my Instagram followers to get some feedback and had several people interested in doing this project as well so I figured I’d share all the tips and feedback that I got!
theshabbybride Yep! It works great! I used bbfrosch and seal with wax. It feels like soft leather–especially over time. It’s amazing!
plentyplace I’ve done it, too. As long as you use the additive then sand & seal it…it’s beautiful & only slightly stiff.
frommyfrontporchtoyours They feel soft and are not crunchy!
Jillykay You have to water the paint down a lot… I didn’t at first and it’s a little crunchy on the seat of the chair
Ewisabeff What I did was use a spray bottle to wet the fabric and added a little bit of water to the paint to prevent the crunchiness. Then I used Annie Sloan clear wax to help soften the paint and to seal. It worked out great!
Bekapoe Add textile medium to the paint instead of water. You can get it at Hobby Lobby. Mine was was still pretty crunchy but I did it on crushed velvet so that was probably why. It still looks pretty!
Navyblueangl51 You need to dampen the fabric with a little water. I just used a spray bottle. Material feels suede like. It looks great.
Plentyplace As long as you used the additive then sand & seal it, it’s beautiful and only slightly stiff.
Isn’t it great to see so many people saying it works! I am anxious to find me some chairs and give this a try!
I also did a roundup of some great tutorials I found on this type of project! I love reading tutorials from different places to learn as many tips and tricks as possible!
http://www.allthingsthrifty.com/2014/09/painted-fabric-on-furniture-tutorial.html
http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/2014/09/painting-fabric-with-chalk-paint.html
http://www.littlehouseinthebigd.com/2012/10/painting-furniture-fabric-yep-furniture.html