Painting a Fabric Chair

Here is the before. It has definitely had its fair share of spills and such. It probably could have been refreshed with a cleaning agent and some scrubbing but I wanted to give it a whole new look and it'smuch more fun to paint.

I started by spraying down the fabric with water. It needed to be nice and damp for the paint to get in all the grooves and really sink in.

Next I painted a base color called Canape by Country Chic Paint. It is a very pretty neutral, similar color family to the actual fabric color of the chair. I let that dry completely and then painted a second coat. Once that was done it was time for the darker color.

This rich chocolatey color is called Dark Roast by Country Chic Paint and it will be my accent color, used to blend with my lighter color Canape. Once these colors were well blended I let them completely dry for two days before moving forward. Next it was time to seal.

Because wax will get into the fabric really well it is a great sealer for painted couches/chairs. The wax does not crack, it is very flexible once cured and provided a soft sheen finish. I love using this wax because it is all natural and doesn't have any bad odor to it.

Here you can see a spot when I began to apply the wax - see the sheen? I used a natural bristle brush to apply the wax. I started with a straight motion and then decided to apply it in circles and when I finished a section I continued on to the next. I waxed the chair in its entirety and rubbed off any excess after I was done, but there wasn't really any since it penetrated the fabric really nicely. The wax coat will provide some protection against water spills which is great, I am not sure how it will perform if food spills but we shall see.

Love how the colors work together, all neutral tones but serve as a great update to the before state of the fabric.

Here is the chair all finished. To me it looks like a worn leather chair and I'm so very happy with how it turned out.