How To: Upcycled Painted Fabric Painted Armchair
Transform fabric furniture using paint and fabric softener - for under $25!
I recently discovered here and here that you can use paint and fabric softener to make fabric furniture look like aged leather, amazing right?! The aged leather look sadly doesn’t our interior style but I was SO curious to try this technique of mixing paint and fabric softener to make fabric paint. All I needed was to find the perfect piece of furniture to upcycle! And that’s exactly what I did. I recently found a secondhand armchair at a tip shop for only $10; the fabric was outdated but it was in good condition and I loved the timber frame. It had so much potential and I knew it would be perfect to test out this technique.
I thought long and hard about paint colours and timber stain, and in the end decided to paint the entire chair to celebrate Pantone’s colour of the year - Peach Fuzz. I fell madly in love with British Paints Retro Peach when I made this DIY Christmas Table Centrepiece and wanted to incorporate it into this upcycling project. All I needed to do was choose a second colour! As always this project had lots of twists and turns, and I learned lots of news things which I am excited to share with you here.
And make sure to watch this video to see how it all came together
Before & After
Project Details
♻️ Upcycling: Fabric Armchair
🕒 Project Time Estimate: 3 hours
🪑 Skill Level: Beginner
👷♀️ Protective Gear: Safety eyewear, safety mask and ear plugs
💰 Materials Cost: Under $25
Materials
White primer paint
250ml British Paints Retro Peach
500ml British Paints Exotic Terracotta
Tools
Drill
Sander
Paint roller
Paint brush
Making DIY Fabric Paint
To learn how to make your own DIY Fabric Paint, check out my step by step tutorial here. You’ll need paint, fabric softener, cups and spoons if you’d like to make your own using different paint and fabric softener ratios.
Choosing Colours
The fun part! After testing a few different British Paints sample pot paint colours for my DIY Christmas Table Centrepiece, I was excited to test more colours. I went to Bunnings and bought a bunch of British Paints 250ml sample pots. I knew I would paint the timber frame with British Paints Retro Peach, so I chose a range of colours that I thought would tie in beautifully with this.
Retro Peach is a light shade and I wanted to bring depth to the chair by choosing a darker colour to paint the fabric with. The upholstery fabric also had pattern in it, so I knew a darker colour would blend into this better. I tested a few different colours and the final 3 were Exotic Terracotta, Daintree Beauty and Indian Red.
After lots of debate and putting out a vote on Instagram, in the end I chose British Paints Exotic Terracotta. Even though I thought Indian Red was going to look the best, I wanted to try something different. I’ve used Indian Red across a tonne of projects this year so it was time to try something new. And in the end it it ended up being a tough choice between Exotic Terracotta and Daintree Beauty. I’ve used a lot of green paint in the past and I really wanted to choose a colour outside of my normal rotation, so I chose Exotic Terracotta.
How To
Step 1: To begin with I removed the cushion and the back of the seat using a drill. Wearing safety gear, I gave the timber frame a light sand to remove the existing varnish and give the timber grit for painting.
Step 2: Following this I applied one coat of primer paint in white using a paint roller. When the primer had dried, I applied two coats of British Paints Retro Peach also using a roller, making sure each coat had thoroughly dried before applying the next.
Step 3: I cleaned the armchair cushion with our Dyson. Then I made a concoction of 1 part water with 1 part fabric softener and sprayed it all over the cushion. Following this I used my DIY Fabric Paint and applied one coat using a paint brush all over the cushion, armrests and the back of the chair making sure to work in sections. I let the paint dry in the sun and when I assembled the chair together, I did some last minute touch ups.
The Reveal
I'm totally in LOVE! And let’s be honest - totally blown away! I can’t believe I haven’t heard of this technique until now. I’ve been upcycling furniture for over 20 years, so this has been a really fun project that has brought me lots of joy and satisfaction. And I hope it has for you too. The fabric feels luxuriously soft and comfortable, and I still can't believe it actually worked. What a transformation! I can't wait to paint more fabric furniture - woo hoo!
