It never ceases to amaze me what a little paint can do. Just a few years ago, I would never imagined you could paint the fabric on a chair to change the color, but as you saw in Christy’s tutorial HERE, it actually is a simple and easy way to bring new life to a piece of furniture.
We’ve had this red chair for several years. My Mother passed it on to us when she redecorated her living room a few years ago, though it originally was my Grandmother’s so it means more to me than a new piece would. My parents had it reupholstered in a heavy red linen so while in great shape it didn’t match a thing in our house. I priced getting it reupholstered in gray fabric but unfortunately the cost was as much as a new chair.
How to Paint a Fabric (Upholstered) Chair with Chalk Paint
Since the only thing wrong with the chair was the color, and I loved the style of it, I figured trying a little paint was worth it. I started off following our tutorial HERE--first mixing some gray paint I had on hand with fabric medium and water combination. Like other painted fabric projects, the first coat made me a little nervous since the fabric absorbed the paint quickly and the red clearly showed through.
The second coat (which above you can see I had just started on the front) made a big difference and the chair started showing some promise.
At this point, I decided I didn’t like the sheen on the fabric from the paint–there may have been a bit too much gloss in the paint I used–but the result looked a bit off. I decided I needed to go a different route. I popped into the store to pick up some chalk paint and give that a try. Using the chalk paint was even simpler since you don’t need to mix in fabric medium, you just use chalk paint and water. I used ASCP Paris Gray and the results were great.
This is just another route to refreshing a chair with paint. Both techniques will work–you can either use craft (or flat latex) paint with fabric medium OR you can use chalk paint and water, the later is the route I went with this chair. You can see the finished result below:
I started by simply giving the fabric a good mist of water from a regular spray bottle and then just painted on the chalk paint, you want the fabric to be wet first. It took two more coats of paint but the finish came out perfectly. I did add a little more water directly to the paint so it would be thin enough to get in all the grooves around the trim and cover up all the red.
Everyone who sits on this chair marvels that it is painted, if they even notice at all. Even my husband who was enormously skeptical was impressed with the outcome. Here is the side-by-side, it just looks so much fresher and up to date now.
After the paint dried, I tacked on some nailhead trim {but ran out of nails, those are on order and the final result will be much straighter when they arrive} to jazz up the bottom. I have not yet put ASCP wax on this chair, though I still might. The wax would probably protect it since it is a light color and that spells trouble with kids, pets and snacks around.
I have been asked what does it feel like? It’s hard to explain but I don’t think you can tell that it’s been painted. The fabric is a little stiffer–more like fabric you would see outdoors and feels cooler to the touch–but otherwise it doesn’t look or feel much different from an unpainted chair. The paint doesn’t wear off either.
For now the chair is sitting in our family room but it may get moved into either our Library or up to our Master Bedroom. It’s a bit small compared to the over sized furniture being made today but it’s still nice and comfortable to sit in. We’ll see where it ends up, now it is a nice neutral color so it will fit in many spots in our home.
If there is one thing we’ve discovered from this process, it’s to not to let a piece of furniture go to waste just because you don’t like the color, it’s so easy to change!
For other Chalk Paint Tips & Tricks, see this post HERE.
See our Top 10 Painted Projects HERE.
Feel free to leave questions in the comments…
XO,
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