Do you have suggestions for painting this couch more efficiently?

An online site may not be the best place (even a place as friendly as Hometalk) to ask a stranger to come into your home and help you. Perhaps you could call on family and/or friends for help. If that is not possible, just continue with your project at your own pace. It looks like you're making great progress. Painting upholstery is a big project but so rewarding after it's completed. You said in your first post that the set was given to you, so you'll have a wonderful looking set with only some time & effort invested---just keep at it and soon you'll have a new living room! Good luck!

Take your time and maybe make it a project with friends in to help you. It already looks great from what you have done.

are you changing it from white to brown or brown to white or what?

Experiment with unseen parts first. The mixture you posted seems iffy-the plaster of Paris-afraid it will crack. You might just try using enamel paint by brushing it on. I have used spray paint to do outdoor cushions with great results.

Since I have no friends and just trying to sand the brown flakes off before I could even start to paint it wears my back out. Maybe this is just something I should have never done. I already talked to an upholsterer about redoing it

Use a hand electric sander with a grit with a high number like 220. Then wipe it down with a tack cloth or slightly damp rag (not wet) just to get the dust off. Afterward mist it with a little water and paint thin coats. Let each one dry. You don’t have to worry how soon you paint the next coat if it seem stiff lightly sand it with a high # grit. It can even higher than 220 if you have it. All you are trying to do is scuff up the surface and make it a liitle softer. The paint can be almost any water based paint that is flat or eggshell finish as long as you use thin layers. Left over wall paint will even work if you thin it a little. The instructions useing a bit of plaster or chalk paint work but it will be harder to get a thin coat if this is your first time painting fabric. It looks like the couch was vinyl or “ pleather” when you started so you were right to sand of any chipping if not all the shiny part off. If you want a light color the first coats should be light colored but not necessarily white, if a dark color darker coats would best. The top several light coats should be your final color and paint. The first few coats almost any water based wall paint should work as long as each one is thin. When you are done painting and it is completely dry you may want to wax it or even scotch guard it if you done mind aerosols. I don’t have any friends that would want to help me with this type of project either! Lol. If you lived in the Florida panhandle I might be able to help but I have some medical issues to and I can't drive across town and certainly can not get rides back and forth to Tenn. if you need to use the couch in the mean time throw something over it after a dry coat until you can continue.

Right now almost anything is more fun than doing the interiors I still have left from Hurricane Michael. Lol!

you will really be proud of yourself if you finish it and each coat will probably not take more than 45 minutes to an hour. The savings over having it professionally reupholstered can be tremendous and if all else fails you can order a a nice slip cover or have it reupholstered! Please post a picture if you get it done lots of us would like to see it no matter when you finish it! An remember it is your first project of this type and the next one could be easier and more fun. You really don’t have much to lose since you have already started 👍

I got disgusted with it and decided to buy cloth and redo them myself. The fabric is not the color I really liked but it should still turn out nicely