Upcycled Couch - Painting Upholstery For The First Time

4 Materials
$50
2 Weeks
Medium

Today I am sharing a project that honestly turned out better than I thought it would. As my post title states, I have never painted upholstery before but I did do a lot of research to see what other folks recommended. And then I did something totally different. Ok not entirely, I did actually try to use some of their advice. But I like to use what I have on hand and when you are working with a couch that is in this bad of shape you don't worry much about ruining it.

So here is my lovely couch. As you can see there is quite a bit of damage and you may not be able to see this but it is also covered with quite a bit a dog and cat hair.

So my first step was to clean it and repair the damage. There was too much damage to just sew the couch back together so I decided to sew on some patches in some circle shapes

I used some old Jean's to make the patches.

Once the holes were patched I decided to add some additional patches to balance out the couch. And then I cleaned the cushions and the couch with a microfiber cloth and some cleaning solution.

Next, it was time for the scary part. I had watched a lot of videos on painting upholstery and everyone seems to recommend using chalk paint. But I didn't have any chalk paint but I did have this red high gloss house paint so after a little testing I decided to just use what I had.

For the first coat of paint, I used a spray bottle with water to help spread the paint but after that, I just used the straight paint. Between each coat, I sanded the surface lightly.

This project did use a lot of paint. A little over 2 gallons to be exact and four coats. With the four coats of paint, the couch has a nice leather or vinyl feel. And I really like the way it looks.

Thanks for taking a look at my project. If you would like more upcycling project DIY's or Green Product Reviews please visit my blog or Youtube channel to subscribe.You can find more details for this project in the attached video and at the following link  http://www.upcycledesignlab.com/painting-upholstery-for-the-first-time-and-breaking-all-the-rules-can-this-be-saved/

Happy Upcycling,Cindy

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Cindy @ Upcycle Design Lab
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Leona E Falgout Leona E Falgout on Feb 02, 2021

    My couch is fabric. Can it be painted

  • Frances Anderson Frances Anderson on Jan 31, 2022

    after several weeks of constant use my leather couch cracked peeled and flakes everytime its used. anyone know how to take the paint back off as am now at my wits end

  • Cindy H. Cindy H. on Jan 31, 2022

    Great job! I have an old bamboo couch I'd love to paint. The cushions have zippers, so they can come out of the covers. Should I leave them in or pull them out before I start painting? Thank you.

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