PAINTED FABRIC || painting fabric with Chalk Paint®

A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from a lady; they were moving her mom to an apartment and needing to downsize.  She wanted to know if I would like to come look at the items they were needing move.  I loaded up the girls, picked up a girlfriend and we were on our way.  She had a beautiful table and chair set.  Absolutely beautiful!  But, it was a big set and I didn't have room.  So I came home with a pair of chairs and some smaller treasures.

The chairs were in really good shape, and super comfortable.  Since I don't have the skills necessary to reupholster these beauties, I decided to paint them.

Here are the details on how I painted fabric with Chalk Paint®.

- Vacuumed the fabric and trimmed the loose strings.

- Wiped down the wood with a warm, damp rag.  After allowing the wood to dry, I painted two coats of Milk Paint {Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint ~ ironstone} on the wood.  I was fine with the paint chipping, so I did not apply the bonding agent.

- For the fabric, I added water to Chalk Paint®.  I added 4 parts {OLD OCHRE} Chalk Paint® to a mason jar and 1 part water.  Shake it good to thin the paint down a bit.  By thinning the paint down it helps the paint to cover easier, and it makes it a bit softer to the touch once it dries.

- Once the fabric was painted, I touched up the painted wood with an artist brush.  I didn't tape anything off, so naturally I had a bit of the fabric paint color on the wood details.  I sanded the edges of the wood to give the wood a distressed look.

- The last step was to apply clear wax to the wood and the fabric.  The wax helped to soften the fabric and also provides a protective barrier.

I am very happy with the results.  The fabric is not 'crunchy' or hard.  It's not super soft like cotton or linen, it feels more like an outdoor fabric.  One day I may have these chairs reupholstered, but for now I am very happy with how they turned out!  And no sewing skills were required ;-)

A LIVING ROOM UPDATE

I thought I would post a few photos of the living room.  It's slowly coming together and I am loving everything about it!!

Our living room furniture arrived a few weeks ago.  I still have  A LOT I want to do in this room.  I am amazed how fast time flies!  Kiddos and moving seem to make me realize it even more. :0) When I would tell someone that we moved 2, 3 and now almost 4 months ago, I realize how time is gone in the blink of an eye!!  And it doesn't seem like we have done much to our new space….the to-do list is long and we better get cracking!  With little people in our lives, we spend a lot more time playing and adventuring than just working on the house {like we use to}.  But, I wouldn't have it any other way!

This was the living room when we moved in.  Clean, and great natural light.

I painted the walls a soft gray, and added blue and green floral curtains and the room looked quite different with just those changes.  The bay window had an great upholstered cushion, however, the fabric didn't go with my new color scheme.  I knew I couldn't sew one, so I tried painting it with Chalk Paint!  It took three coats, but it covered beautifully! It isn't soft, I would compare the feel to that of an outdoor furniture cushion. But it doesn't crack when you sit on it and it serves is purpose beautifully!

I am in love with the new sofa and chairs.  The cushions are down and super comfy, and the fabric is a soft linen color with a subtle herringbone pattern.  It has enough pattern that I don't worry about noticing every bit of dirt, but it's still light and keeps the room feeling lighter.

Remember our beautiful cherry mantel?  Matt really loved it but it was just a bit too dark for me.  While he was gone at work one day, I painted it with Chalk Paint®.  That's one of the beauties of Chalk Paint®…..I painted 3 coats of paint and waxed it in one day.  I didn't need to prime or prep the existing wood…..I love this stuff!!  I painted the mantle COUNTRY GREY, a soft grey with a bit of green.

Matt wants to replace the stone and I want to add some art work above the mantel, we will see when that happens!

I bought two matching oak tables from this little hole-in-the-wall space.  They were in great shape, but very dated with a yellowed varnish- very 80's oak.  I wanted more of a chocolate brown color to compliment the oak floor.  I used MMSP MILK PAINT to act as a wash/stain.  I sill wanted the wood to show, I just didn't want to go through the hassle of stripping, sanding and refinishing the oak tables.  I used the color CURIO.  I applied one coat and sealed it with furniture wax.  It was done in less that one hour….love that!

And we still have A LOT of work to do in the house!  This is the view into the dining room and kitchen.  You can see all the way through that we have all of our new interior doors stacked in the kitchen.  Matt needs a place to spray all of them, so they just wait.  We both really enjoy having projects. but there comes that time with every project that you just want to be done!  We haven't reached that point yet, hopefully we are a lot further along before we do ;-)

Enjoy the sunshine friends!!!!