How to Paint a Fabric Chair | Upholstery Painting Tutorial and Honest Review of Results

this chair is about to get a makeover I'm going to paint it I'm gonna paint the wood but I'm also going to paint the fabric that's right I am going to paint the fabric no sanding no priming no prep work needed so stick around because this is a transformation that you do not want to miss hey I'm Deanna welcome to my studio I've got this mid-century modern slipper chair that needs some sprucing up so I'm going to paint it with chalk paint by any Sloan I've used this product before to paint upholstery and fabric and love the results but I've never painted a fabric quite like this so I'm really curious to see how it comes out be sure you watch all the way to the end of the video so that you two can see the results and I'll answer some frequently asked questions like how much paint didn't use how long do you wait between coats and how does it feel after it's painted let's get right to the project the key to painting fabric with chalk paint is to get the fabric wet prior to painting so that the paint soaks into the fabric rather than just sitting on top the first step is just to pour some water into a paint tray then using a big round full brush dip your brush in the water and then paint your fabric with the water get the fabric wet so that it saturates all the way through but not so much that it saturates the entire foam padding underneath you can also use a spray bottle and some water and mist the fabric but I prefer the brush I think it helps to press the water deeper into the weave especially on something like this that has a raised pile this particular fabric is called freeze it's a combination of tightly woven cut and uncut loops and that's what gives it the diamond shape and fabric like this was popular in the 1950s and 60s and it's a pretty stiff rigid fabric to begin with now that I've got it nice and wet in this one area I'm going to go ahead and paint in sections so the next step is to pour a little paint into my tray I like using the same tray for my water and paint so it's easy to add a little water to the paint as I go if I need to and I've picked out the color old white again this is chalk paint by any Slone that I'm going to be working with pour some paint into your tray and I'm using the same brush that I used to paint the water on the fabric and the moisture in the bristles will help to thin the paint slightly we can always dip it into the water to thin it a little bit more the idea is to work the paint into the fabric rather than just leaving a thick layer on top with a back-and-forth sweeping motion or scrubbing now depending on the fabric you may need to do more than one layer so don't worry about getting super solid covered all in one shot continue to work in sections painting with water and then painting with paint until all the fabric is completely covered it's okay if a little bit of paint remains in the brush as you move on to the next section just dip your brush in the water paint the fabric to get it wet and then carry on with painting and because I'm going to be painting the wood pieces after I'm not gonna worry about masking them off with painters tape if a little bit of paint gets onto the wood that's ok but I'll do my best just to keep it on the fabric for now I finished the first layer of paint and that took about 30 minutes to complete and as you can see it still looks a little patchy a little uneven but that's totally normal at this stage while we're waiting for this to dry I'm gonna answer some of those frequently asked questions that I get before moving on to the second code so the first question being how many coats of paint doesn't need again as you can see this is a little bit patchy and uneven so I'm definitely going to do a second coat to make it a little bit more solid every fabric is unique and will take the paint different even the colors that you choose can make a difference as well for example I'm using a white color over a medium tone if I was doing a black or a darker color it may be much more solid at this point but typically in my experience I find two or three layers of paint to get a good even solid coverage the next question I get a lot is do you have to sand between coats if you have a smooth fabric and you want a super smooth finish you can sand very lightly between coats but anything with a raised pile or texture like this as soon as you start sanding it's going to distress to reveal that pattern so in my case I'm not going to be sanding between coats and it's going to adhere and work just fine another question I get asked often is do you have to seal the fabric with wax the traditional sealer for chalk paint is a paste wax and you can apply it over fabric but generally speaking you want to use that on a smooth fabric anything with raised texture again like this one here the wax is just going to get built up in all of that texture and stay sticky on the surface if you do have a smooth fabric that you're working with and you'd like to wax it after the paint is dry you'll end up with a really nice soft almost leathery feel to it and it is a beautiful finish but in this case I'm not going to be waxing and I don't have to worry about any paint coming off on my clothes because once it's dry it'll be set so we're not worried about transfer onto clothing I also get the question will the paint crack or flake off if you just take the paint straight out of the can and you paint a thick layer on top of the fabric you're likely to get cracks or flaking that's why we add water so the paint can absorb can soak into the fiber into the weave and then it's likely to crack and the most common question I get is how does it feel to be honest it will feel different than when you started anytime you paint fabric it will become a little bit stiffer than originally was in this case this was already a pretty stiff fabric to begin with so once it dries they'll have a good sense of how it feels at this point it feels nice and soft but it's still really wet so let's wait till it fully dries and then I can answer that question I'm gonna leave this to sit a little while longer for the first layer to dry once that's dry I'll move on to my second coat and then on to painting the lake's it's been two and a half hours since I finished my first coat and I actually sent my chair outside in the Sun to help speed up the drying process drying times will vary depending on how much water you use the type of fabric how thick you put your paint on but you do want it to feel really nice and dry before going on to your second layer otherwise if you go too soon it's just gonna kind of blend with that first layer and you won't see the coverage that you're hoping for the second layer the application is very similar to the first but I won't be adding as much water in the beginning just mostly mixing the water and paint in my tray as I go I'll dip my brush into the paint and add a little water that's already in the tray death in the paint slightly and then again a sweeping back and forth motion or scrubbing to work it into the fabric second coat is all done I'm gonna leave it dry and we'll come back and see how it looks second coat of paint is now dry on my chair I had left this one to sit overnight so it could completely dry all the way through it's definitely more white than when I started but still not as white as I want it to be so I'm gonna go ahead and add a third layer of paint exact same method as I used for the second so using the same paint that I've been painting the fabric with this is old white chalk paint by any Sloane I'm just going to dip my brush in and start to paint on the wood surface so even though there is an existing stain on here either there's no sanding or no priming no prep required and I've got lots of videos coming out they go more in depth about chalk paint so if you're interested in that topic remember to subscribe and click the notification bell so you're alerted every time I upload new content for today I'm just going to give you a quick overview dip your brush into the paint and this time we're not diluting with any water and then just go ahead and start to paint it on the first coat is usually a little bit patchy or uneven don't worry about that we'll let it dry and then when we come back and do a second coat it'll be much more solid first coat finished on the wood pieces that was pretty quick and easy and it'll dry much quicker on the wood than on the fabric usually about 15 minutes up to half an hour depending on the surface so I'll let that dry and then I'll come back and do a second coat now that the paint is completely dried on the legs I'm going to go ahead and apply a second coat second coat of paint is done on the legs three coats of paint done and dry on the fabric there's a couple of spots in the fabric where it's a little bit uneven and could use a little bit more paint so I'm gonna go ahead and add a fourth layer in some areas on to the fabric again mixing my paint with water to help it soak into the fabric I just finished the fourth layer on the fabric we're gonna leave it to dry and then we'll come back and take a look my chair is now completely dry and I'm finished with painting but before I review this project I want to mention that I will be posting a lot of videos about chalk painting furniture all different kinds of techniques tips and tricks as well I will be doing another painting upholstery video this time on a smooth fabric and I'll show you how to wax it as promised here comes the review it took four layers of paint to paint the fabric each layer was watered down slightly so it absorbed into the fabric it took about 30 minutes to complete each coat I allowed it to dry a few hours between layers a couple of the layers I even let it sit overnight so it was dry all the way through the wood of the legs took two layers and I did not dilute the paint at all and that was really quick and easy it took about 10 minutes to paint the wood on the chair allowed it to dry about 20 minutes between each of those layers and I got a really great solid coverage in total I used an entire leader of paint to paint this chair now I've painted a lot of fabric and upholstery with chalk paint before but never anything quite like this so I was really curious to see how it would turn out let's take a closer look earlier I mentioned this was a transformation that you wouldn't want to miss because I think we have a lot that we can learn from this project overall it is whiter than when I started but honestly it's not as white as I had hoped it would be I think the texture the fabric creates some shadows which gives it more of an off-white appearance and I was really hoping for a brighter white color we take a look down here at this bottom corner where some of the raised pattern was worn off and the fabric was already smoother it came out really nice and white and crisp and this area here is actually a really good example of what textured versus smooth fabric would look like painted now I could have carried on and continued to add layers on top of the textured paint to try and bring it more to this color but at that point I would have been using so much paint to try and fill in all of these grooves and gaps that it would have become really stiff and it likely would have cracked which is what we are wanting to avoid at this point I can press on the fabric I can sit on it nothing comes off on my clothing nothing's cracking or chipping off which is exactly what we want now this definitely feels stiffer than before but as I mentioned earlier it was a very stiff fabric to begin with and in my experience the more you sit on the chair and you use the fabric it will soften up over time if I was going to paint this type of fabric again I would definitely go to a darker color and I think that would help with some of the shadowing that we're seeing also I would pick a paint color that was darker than the fabric to begin with because I think we need less paint to get better coverage I would also look for a piece of furniture that didn't have any signs of wear and tear as you can see painting the fabric does not hide the imperfections if you have any questions feel free to leave those in the comments below and remember to click the subscribe button and the notification bell so you are alerted every time I upload a new video thanks for watching all the way to the end of the video and I'll see you back here next time

Channel: DIY DEANNA

Views: 523,498

Keywords: chalk paint upholstery, paint fabric, paint upholstery, chalk paint, fabric paint, best fabric paint, white fabric paint, how to paint fabric, mid century mondern, mid centruy modern chair, chalk paint fabric

Id: b3STA2PB_pM

Length: 16min 22sec (982 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 06 2019