Antique Settee Makeover
By now, most of you know about my obsession with Chalk Paint® Decorative Paint by Annie Sloan. You can paint almost anything with this wonder paint, and the best part there is no sanding or stripping involved. For my latest project, I was lucky enough to partner with the folks over at Annie Sloan Unfolded to makeover an amazing antique settee with my favorite paint.
This beauty came my way when Angel from Angel Michelle Photography contacted me to breathe some new life into this piece as she was wanting to use it as a photo prop. The shape and detail of this piece was gorgeous, but the current upholstery choice- not so much. Upholstery work and fabric costs can skyrocket pretty quickly, so I decided to give painting this bad boy a try. I had read about this technique in Annie Sloan's book Color Recipes for Painted Furniture and More. I am pretty impressed with the results.
I started out by wetting all the fabric down with a spray bottle. You don't need to douse it, but it takes the paint better if you dampen it. You only need to do this on the first coat.
The idea is to paint on several light layers of really diluted paint. You don't want to glob the paint on because it will be very hard when it dries and could crack your fabric. Think of it more like dying the fabric versus painting it. I did four coats total on my fabric, and I let them dry completely in between coats. The fabric can only take on so much paint when wet, so I waited a full 24 hours between coats. Also, don't worry about getting paint on your frame as long as you plan on painting it like I did. If not, tape it off.
Angel and I were both amazed by the transformation of this piece. I can't wait to see what she comes up with for her client shoots with this gem. I can just see a little newborn perched on it or a family shot in an open field. I am for sure getting a photo session with my family on it soon!
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Beautiful! I’m an old hippy so I almost cried when I realized the first picture was the before lol but for photo shoots I can see how all that color wouldn’t be good.
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Love it, very classy.
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Does the type fabric matter as to how it can be painted?
What kind of paint you use?is it safe to seat on it without staining your dress? It can crack whit using?
you can't paint velvet can you???