New Tutorial... Paint or Upholstering. What we do?

Hello friends,

 I've been lost a long time and even had thought of posting the tutorial did not have the time to start writing. The question is… What we do when we have a good piece of wood is in good condition but that does not match our décor? Automatically think of painting, truth. Transform it into something that fits our decoration. But, if we are talking about other type of furniture that is not wood, What we do in that case?  Upholstery or Paint.  Right!

I never thought it would cost much to upholstered furniture here in my area, I called an upholsterer to give me an estimate of how much was the cost of a wingback chair and a sofa and I nearly died of a heart attack when he told me prices .... $ 650 per chair and $ 1200 for the sofa I put the fabric. Do not think this is ridiculous ... if I'm going to spend that on pieces used then I'd rather buy new of course. This how it looks before...

I started then to search on the internet and found ideas on how to upholstery or paint fabric. I know that exist products for fabric painting, but not buying products or sprays for this (which cost between $ 7 - $ 10 a can and a piece of furniture can take 10, 12 or more depending on the size). Calculate then, good though it is more economical comparing the upholstery I knew I should find something better or less expensive. Remember that I wanted to change a full living room set.

Well, I founded a couple of decoration blogs that posted fabric furniture painted but no one explain the steps to follow until I found this blog. This girl started painting furniture using wall paint… you read right… WALL PAINT. Well I must stop talking and sharing with you this tutorial. I want to share this with you because I thought I could serve many that do not have the cash on hand to upholster furniture.

Steps to follow:

1.    Materials

a.   A wing back chair.

b.   Sand paper.

c.    Wall paint (you can used satin, eggshell or matte. I am not a big fan of gloss paint because my type of décor fits better with the other finishing types). I selected Valspar with primer on it.  Around $27 per gallon, I used less than ¼ of can, so saved the rest for other projects.  Due to we need only a minimal amount of paint you can use leftovers that you have at home.

d.   Textile Medium (I used almost 2 large bottles), $5.99 ea.  ( I got them  in the cheaper way, off course using discount coupons, LOL)

e.   Sponge roller.

f.    Brush.

g.   Spray bottle, water.

2.    Clean your chair first, be sure that you remove all the dirt on it. Then spray it with water, don’t worry the fabric need to be damp. Apply the paint with the roller or the brush as you need. This step will be your primer, wait until it dries. In the picture below notice how it looks.

3.   Spray the chair again with water and then apply a second coat ( mix equal parts of paint and textile medium, you can add a little amount of water), wait until it dries too. Now the piece will have more coverage than the first step. Lightly sand the parts where you had fabric imperfections or where the paint looks a rough surface.

Remove from the furniture all traces of dust with a cloth.

4.   Lightly moistened the piece and apply another layer, this should cover the fabric completely and did not see traces of the previous color. In some cases it is possible an additional layer, as was my case. Repeat sanding step again, if you want do it throughout the piece gently this will prevent the fabric looks with a roasted appearance. This picture is with the second coat of paint ( remember I put 3 coats of paint not including the primer).

I’m sure you wonder how it looks now? Having done all the process the fabric has the look of leather or maybe patio furniture fabric. A little harder than before and easier to clean off course, the paint does not run, or “depaint”. It is exactly like painting a piece of clothing with acrylic paint.

Sorry with the flash the pictures looks glossy but is not, looks more eggshell finish . I have to admit that I don’t know how a velvet piece will look but I assume it probably is pretty much the end. Ideally, to upholster the piece is better but if you don't have the cash on hand this is a good way to change the look of the furniture that you love but “hate” the fabric without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars. I use a Wingback chair of my family room, now my big project is the furniture of the Living room. I'm very happy with the result. I hope this tutorial helps.  More pictures of it...

You can also visit this site Hyphen Interiors. See the post  with the specific quantities  and steps she used to paint her chair. I follow her instructions but changing a little bit my quantities to adjust it to my necessities.


Good luck with yours!


I will be sharing this week the awesome gifts that I received in my last swap with  Margie from Hungry Hook Primitives and the banner that I won in a giveaway.


Happy 4th July ! 
See you soon, Eve