Bachelor Chair Upcycle

Jenna Leigh Aldridge
by Jenna Leigh Aldridge
Unicorn SPiT gives this chair new life.
By Jenna Leigh Aldridge
*This post is sponsored by Unicorn SPiT, but all statements and opinions are mine.*


I have been lovingly referring to this chair (in all its stained glory) as “The Bachelor Chair”for a while now. My husband had it when I came along. It was super comfy. Even though the stains wouldn't come out (no matter how hard I scrubbed), we just couldn’t part with it. I fell in love with these gorgeous Suzani chairs on Pinterest. I did not love the $1,500 price tag! I had seen a video where they used Unicorn Spit on fabric by spraying it with a bottle, so I got to work.




I started by cleaning the chair.  I vacuumed and scrubbed to get as much grime off as possible. It had most recently been in our boys room so it had marker, dirt and all sorts of disturbing stains. This was as good as it was going to get so I moved on to the fun part.



I experimented on the back side of the cushion. I chose Rustic Reality, Zia Teal, Phoenix Fire, Molly Red Pepper, Lemon Kiss,and a mixture of Lemon Kiss, and Dragons Belly to get my lime color. I didn’t want to water my colors down too much, but I also didn’t want the SPiT to dry hard on the fabric or crack. I found, after some experimentation that the perfect consistency was watered down thin enough that it will roll around on your plate/bowl but not so thin that it drips off the brush. My best guess is that it is diluted by about 60%. I mixed mine in a plastic bowl. I experimented with a couple of different brushes and decided that my craft brushes gave me the coverage I was most happy with. The SPiT didn’t go on perfectly smooth but I was okay with that. I did find that the more damp the fabric was, the more even the SPiT applied. Keep your handy dandy spray bottle close to spray the fabric if needed. 




I used my brush to draw my pattern on the fabric. My favorite SPiT characteristic is that you can easily fix mistakes by adding a little water to move or remove the SPiT. This is true to a certain extent with the fabric. See those orange drips? I dampened the spot and removed most of the spot,only to realize it made some of the other colors run. Luckily, Rustic Reality covers up most colors well. After the “spot” dried, I continued applying my colors and adding to the pattern. Once I was finished, you couldn’t even see the oops spot anymore! 




It took the chair about two days to completely dry. I sealed it with Scotchgaurd I found in the Automotive section. I live in a small town so my options were limited. One product what I searched high and low for was Neverwet also for car interiors but my search turned up nothing. 




Overall, I was extremely please with the chair. I have used chalkpaint on upholstery but I like the texture of the SPiT is much better. So far, it has proven to be extremely durable. No cracking, peeling, or flaking. Bonus, the upholstery is holding the delightful SPiT smell so you get a whiff every time you sit!




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  • Michelle Leslie Michelle Leslie on Apr 25, 2017

    Beautifully done, it looks stunning

  • Suzie 50 Suzie 50 on Aug 31, 2018

    Ok, ok! I have got to try this stuff! Two chairs in my living room better watch out because they need 'something' and now! Thanks for the good step by step directions of what you did. Your chair looks really great. So different!

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