Painted Chair: Fabric and Frame, French Style!

Looks like a Duck Egg Blue chair with leather upholstery

and a bit of gilding on the same tone frame.

But it didn't always look like this!

 The chair was circa 1980 or so...perfectly

nice, but dated floral fabric and peachy wood tone.

 Go ahead and paint both the fabric and the frame.

 This polished cotton fabric was a breeze to paint.

First you mist your fabric with a bottle sprayer using water.

Then dip brush into water then right into paint can and spread onto

the fabric.  The mixture will be too light to usually cover in one coat.

Let it dry, then follow up again with the water and the paint on a second coat.

This way the paint will not be too heavy to cause cracking on the paint.

 You can see the faint pattern of the floral design through the one coat of paint.

This is the chair after the second coat of paint. 

I finished it by sanding it lightly with 500 grit paper over the 

dried painted fabric.  This will make it smooth to the touch.

Afterwards I waxed it with a 50/50 mix of mineral spirits and

Annie Sloan's Clear Soft Wax.  Mix it up til its nice and smushy and 

then spread around the fabric with a wax brush. Wipe off any excess.

If you want to add gilding wax, now is the time.

Add gilding wax like I did here, using King Gold Gilding Wax

for a lovely gilded look.  

Voila! 

You have a brand new chair with a beautiful new look!

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Painting fabric on chairs and random stuff

It just seems strange to paint fabric I admit~

but I have been thrilled with the results every time I try it.

 Here is the before and after of a french chair. Side by side this pair used to be the same. First thing I did was to paint the entire thing in a coat of Old White Chalk Paint®.  Then I did one more after it dried.

The upholstery was a quilted style heavy fabric in gold.

It really take more paint to cover fabric than it does wood.

You can water down the paint a bit, but not a lot.

After it dries sand it lightly with 500 grit paper so it feels 

soft and smooth.  Yes, it sands nicely and feels so soft!

Next step:  I waxed it with a mix I made out of Annies soft wax 

and mineral spirits.

Just making the wax a little easier to spread over the fabric

 I added about 1 part mineral spirits to two parts wax in a plastic cup. 

 It has the consistency of soft butter.

 This photo was after I used it...but this is how I applied the 

softened wax over the seat. Just like you would wax a dresser,

 rub it in and around and spread it nice and evenly. I did not

 have to remove any excess as I applied it carefully without globbing it!!!

After waxing it feels kind of like a soft leather! 

Its quite amazing...a little dark wax to the chair frame 

and this chair has a whole new look!

Pretty french chair in Old White!

 This is the cabinet I made for a shop display for the 

Pearl Plaster and all that other good stuff~

 Finishing up this mammoth brass chandelier~I keep working on

 it and working on it...it might never be done! Just kidding Melissa!

 This pretty vanity will be the next piece to get the 

Maison Decor treatment~what color do you think it should be?

 A faded blue mora clock heads out to her new home~

 on the heels of this cream colored mora!

I think the easter egg colors look so pretty on these clocks.

A student from Sunday's class fell in love with my Silvery Grey Sideboard.

She came in my shop today and bought it!

Its so exciting for me to see one of my creations go home with someone.

On another note~this sideboard was painted by one of my 

students, Eugenia! I think she did a fantastic job on it. I think she said

it was Olive, but it kind of looks like Chateau Grey....

Whatever it came out really cool.

Thats it from my little corner of the world~

hope you are getting a chance to flex your creative muscles~

'cause it feels sooooo good!

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