The Painted Chair

There was an old crafty, hip, adventurous lady,

Who painted a chair.

I don't know why she painted the chair.

She painted the chair to match the room.

She painted the room to match the house.

She painted the house to match the town.

She painted the town.......Now we're having some fun, aren't we?

So what's the big deal about painting a chair?  Well.......Lavendears, I painted the fabric!!!

Girls, Oh yes I did!

I took a perfectly beautiful chair

 and painted it.

 The Before 

OK, so let me explain myself.  I bought this chair for about $35 almost 20 years ago.  It was ratty, ugly, dirty, ripped such a neat antique.  We didn't have much money, but we needed a chair.  I was lucky enough to get a steal on some tapestry fabric, and so I recovered the chair.  It looked fine in our last house, but the scale of the chair is too small for our living room here, and the boys certainly don't want it in their rooms.  It was such a big undertaking though, I'm kind of attached to it and would like to keep it around somewhere.

I thought of recovering it again, but seriously the fabric is still in perfect condition, and that seems like a waste of time and money.  Besides, I've been wanting to see what a painted fabric chair looks like.  And since not much is really sacred around here - I painted the chair.

I really like it!!!

In order to do this, I vacuumed and wiped down the chair really well.  Then I mixed 2 parts of exterior latex house paint with 1 part Delta Ceramcoat Textile Medium.  The color I used is an heirloom white, but it is a custom color for my house, so it's not on the shelf.

Before it was antiqued.

After painting 2 coats and letting it dry for about 1 week, I decided to age the chair a bit.  It was very pretty in the heirloom white, but was almost too sterile looking.  At first, I mixed 2 Tbs. water with 2 Tbs. Delta Ceramcoat Brown Iron Oxide acrylic paint, but I didn't like how dark it was going on.  I still wanted the chair to be heirloom white, it just needed to be aged a little.  So, I added about 1 cup more water, and generously covered the chair with the dirty water.  I do not have pictures of this because I was needing to work quickly in order to not get paint lines.

Close-up of the antiquing.

It was then a matter of wiping and ragging with a clean, wet rag until it took on the look I was after.  After letting it sit for a day, it still seemed a little dark, so I took a wet rag and wiped even more.  I think this is a good idea anyway, to ensure that paint will not rub off on someone's clothes when they sit in this chair.

I love how the texture looks through the paint.

I'd like to do a little more with the chair, like paint some stripes or ephemera on it, but I'm going to make a scripty pillow first and see if that is enough.  What suggestions do you have?

FYI, the chair feels like it is vinyl now.  I was hoping it would feel a little more like fabric, but it is not scratchy and feels comfortable to sit on.  I think it's going to hold up quite well.

Thanks for stopping by.  Why don't you just help yourself to some coffee and, Please, feel free to sit in that cute little chair right over there!  Bo, my shih tzu, is waiting to snuggle.

Ellie