Ok, so I’ve known about the idea of painting fabric for quite awhile now, it’s kinda one of those arsenal tricks up the sleeve of a “budget decorator”… But not too long ago I ran across a painted fabric chair that blew it outta the water for me… And honestly, when I first saw it, I thought… “No way that turned out!” Turns out some really creative bloggers decided you could paint upholstery. Cajones’, eh? That’s what I said… Well it seems like when one blogger tries something, it catches on, and soon you have different bloggers doing their different takes on a project. (Which is an amazing thing!) And they turn out beautiful! So now that I am over the shock, and the acceptance of the fact that these are legit solutions to budget decorating problems, we went out searching for project tutorials to help you learn how to paint fabric furniture. Yep, we’re gonna do it, so grab your paint brush and that ugly chair from the basement!
Learn how top paint fabric furniture, and make it look high end with this easy graphic design from ‘Grillo Designs‘! This tutorial has tons of step by step photos and instructions,
This is that first painted fabric chair that got my attention, from Nancy at ‘Artsy Chicks Rule‘. I loved this amazing blue… what a happy chair! It took me a little bit closer inspection to find out she had painted it with chalk paint! It’s gorgeous! Oh, you gotta go check out the before photo…
From ‘A Piece of Rainbow‘, see how painting fabric furniture is not only easy, it is transformative! And, she give you tips on how to keep the fabric paint from getting hard.
Kim at ‘The Kim Six Fix‘ did a similar chair in an equally pretty blue color for her nursery, but used latex paint instead. Find out her entire process on how to paint fabric upholstery. (Lot’s of good tips you don’t want to miss!)
Ok, so Tamara from ‘Provident Home Design‘ took this idea a step farther, and made her own chalk paint to paint a fabric couch! She shares everything she learned in her tutorial… Here is her before and after!
Eliesa from ‘A Pinterest Addict‘ used a fabric spray paint for her painted fabric furniture makeover… Check out what product she used, what she did like, what didn’t work, and whether she would do it again!
Melissa at ‘The Happier Homemaker‘ also has a thing or two to say about spray painting fabric furniture. She used a different product than above, and on a outdoor piece of furniture!
Ready for something different? Sara from ‘Sincerely Sara D‘ did this painted headboard for her guest room. This is a complete tutorial on how to paint fabric with lots of tips and tricks, and the end result was a gorgeous piece of furniture!
At ‘Bella Tucker‘, they show us another project using chalk paint on chairs, but this time they use a stencil as well to give it a twist. Love the after! And the before! Can you believe what it used to look like?
We loved learning how to paint fabric furniture! We think you will also love our post on Flea Market Flips : Before and After Furniture Makeovers!
Love this roundup! Thanks for including our chair makeover. :)
Oh My, what an amazing chair makeover! Thanks for sharing with us all Dana!
So happy to have come across this! I had the idea of doing this to some furniture I have, but am concerned about how the painted fabric wears when it is sat on by people and pets? Does it flake off and scratch easily? Does it feel stiff?
Thanks!!
When you use the wax to seal it, it should be reasonably protective of wear, and we hear it softens it as well!
I painted my leather parson chairs last night, love the way they turned out. Can I seal the chairs with a leather beeswax or do I need another type of wax ?
I’ve never tried that myself, but I would think it would work!
I painted apart if button tufted peach chairs deep teal blue with regular matte pray paint. After paining they were somewhat stiff, but used the upholstery brush & my vacuum cleaner. Rubbing briskly, but gently, this restored the fabric to its original feel. Haven’t had any problems with color rubbing off on clothing, but I’m still going to use scotchgard fabric protector on them this spring!
I painted some diningroom chairs but they went whoosh every time they were sat on because the paint sealed the fabric and the air was squishing out. So a little leary to do a couch, Any experience?
Any of our readers had this happen?
I too painted two dining room chairs that were of the old-style stiff hi-lo weave synthetic material ($5 each at a yard sale) in yellow-white-brown colors (not nearly as attractive as that might sound!). I used acrylic because I was told that latex was being phased out (wish I had checked on that a little more), but I did note in the many articles I read on upholstery painting that acrylic, latex and chalk paints were all used.
The chairs are a beautiful green (Green Agate by Behr), and they are somewhat stiff, but the only place really bothersome is the welting at the bottom front of the chair where the back of your legs rests. I fixed this by just scooting forward the extra cushion I use in the seat so that it extends over the seat edge. These has been finished a couple of months and are wearing well. I think the painting would have been more successful over smoothly woven cotton or similar material because I have a friend who painted a sofa and it was smooth and felt like silk. But I love the color and they serve the purpose well. Would I do a sofa? Not until I tested painting different types of fabric with other kinds of paint.
This is absolutely gorgeous, I have an old chair set that I had no idea what to do with it. Thank you Kathy, I will paint it.