Painting a Wing Back Chair

Has anyone ever painted a chair?

I spotted this BEAUTIFUL wing back chair on Craigslist and was able to score it for only $40! FORTY DOLL HAIRS!!

Here's a full on view of the beauty!

I love the size of it, however the color is a little too dark for my taste. I looked into reupholstering it, however because of the lack of resources that I have access to, I decided against it. Thanks to this helpful tutorial, I attempted to transform this dark purple plum into a bright and chic beauty.

The supplies:

- 1 Quart Acrylic Paint (I used Seashell by Ben Moore)

- Fabric Medium

- Spray Bottle with lots of water

- Mixing cup

- Paint Brush

- 220 Grit Sandpaper

- Painters Tape

Begin by measuring out; 1 part paint, 1 part fabric medium, and 1 part water.

Mix the paint, medium, and water together to create a watered down primer. This will act as you first coat for the chair.

I cleaned off the cushions and chair with a lint roller, and then gently wiped it down with a cloth.

I doused the area that I would be painting with water, and rubbed it into the fabric with my hands.

I painted the paint mixture against the grain of the fabric, and thoroughly made sure all of the purple was covered. I then went back over and painted it again WITH the grain. I did this all over the entire chair and cushion. This will act as you base/primer. It does not need to be thick, just lightly cover the entire chair. Let it dry overnight.

Here is a picture of the chair after one coat. Because I am going from dark to light, I am more than likely going to need to do 2 coats of primer, and 2 coats of paint.

 Here's a little side action to put things into perspective. Making progress!

After is had sat overnight and dried, I sanded the rough areas with 220 grit sandpaper. Be sure to do this WITH the grain of the chair. This step makes a big difference. If you don't sand the rough spots, you will just continue to paint over them, and they will become rougher. The light sanding helps smooth everything out.

Once again, I put on another coat of 1 part paint, 1 part fabric medium and 1 part water a couple of days later. This definitely started to lighten it up and show some visible progress. Once dried, sand the rough areas with 220 grit sandpaper again. 

And then, I went on vacation for a week, came back and had to move and the chair has been sitting untouched for well over a month. Yup! It's a sad story. In fact, I have never left a project half done before, ever. I have completely lost interest and faith in this project 100%. It could be thanks to L and my dad making fun of it's scratchy not very soft texture now,  or maybe because it's extremely time consuming, and maybe even because I'm getting to the point where the amount I spent in paint/products alone is starting to add up to what the price of a brand new chair would be. Very disappointing. 

So without further adieu, this chair is going out with the trash tonight. I am so disappointed. My last strand of hope for this chair was to reupholster it... but when you crunch the numbers, materials and the time... that doesn't really make much sense either. It's hopeless. Let's be honest, the chair looks ridiculous. I'm almost too embarrassed to put it out for trash pickup! I'm not even mentally prepared yet for when all of the trash pickers check it out and go... "oh my, someone is throwing out a wing back! (walks over), Uhm, err what the heck happened to it? This poor chair". I might just have L bring it out tonight, when its dark and nobody can see the abusive chair owner in person. As much time, effort and money that I put into this project, I can honestly feel as though a weight will be lifted off of my shoulders when the trash men come pick it up, laugh at it for a minute, and then throw it into the truck and squash it.

If you want to see how fabric chair painting it really done, I suggest heading over to Hyphen Interiors for a much better and finished tutorial. She definitely knows how to get the job done, and has done so a couple of times.

Sorry guys, it just wasn't happening here.

Not to mention a scratchy, half painted wing back just wasn't fitting the style I had in mind for this home.