One of the features of our house that we fell in love with when we first saw it was the lofted upstairs hall. It’s extra wide and there is room for a little lounge/sitting area. Jesse said he wanted it to be a place to read or get a little chess table and pretend that we are fancy chess playing people. I immediately started dreaming up a little nook with a high back arm chair and stenciled wall. I figured that it would take awhile to find “the chair” but then I stumbled upon this tutorial from Kristy at Hyphen Interiors for painting a chair! When I found a nice chair I really liked on Craigslist a few weeks ago I knew I had to give painting it a try!

So here was my chair a few weeks ago after I picked it up on Craigslist for $25. And here she is in her new spot in our upstairs hall/loft!  And no blog post isn’t complete without a tutorial! So here’s what you’ll need:

- 2 6oz. bottles of Fabric Medium (I used the Martha Stewart brand and loved it!)
- At least 6oz. of acrylic paint in your color of choice
- A sample size of latex paint (the kind you paint your walls with) that matches your acrylic pretty closely
- A 2 in. paint brush
- A spray bottle of water

The first coat is equal parts fabric medium and latex paint. I used about 3 oz. of each and mixed them in a cup from our kitchen. Then I filled my spray bottle with water and headed out to the garage.  Before you start painting make sure you clean off your surface really well. You don’t want dirt, dust or pet hair getting stuck in the paint! I’d also recommend painting the seat cushion first, just in case you aren’t a fan of the color you can just flip and try again!

Generously spray water on your surface. I let my water drip and then rubbed it in to the chair a bit. Then just start painting thin even coats.  The latex coat of paint is basically your primer, so after you finish with that coat you’ll want to let your chair dry for awhile (like a day). You should have basic light coverage, but will still be able to see the original color coming through.  Due to the material of my chair, I didn’t have any problems with the fabric being too stiff or the paint clumping, but if you have an issue just lightly sand the stiff areas with a 220 grit paper before moving on to your next coat.

For your second coat, you’ll use the acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium. Again mix them in equal parts, but you’ll need twice the amount of paint that you used the first time. You’ll also add a few thimbles of water to the mix. Paint this coat just as generously as the first, and make sure this time you are covering every nook and cranny of the chair with paint.  After your chair is all dry, it’s time to do the legs! I was debating for awhile what color to do, but I finally decided to ORB them! The metallic sheen of the ORB will look really good with the gold/brass accents I want to use around the chair. And just for your viewing pleasure, I did a little photo shoot of my chair in the back yard   I taped up my chair with some grocery bags and did a few quick, even coats of spray paint, then let everything in the yard to cure.  Jesse brought the chair in last night and put it in it’s little nook in that hallway and I’m in LOVE! I love the rich color and the glittery sheen of the legs. It makes me so giddy!  Now all I need to do is get some paint and stencil on the wall behind it, find and hang a gold sunburst mirror, find a little table for setting books on and get a gold-ish pillow for the chair!  And to save you some time scrolling up and down, here’s the before & after!  The total cost of this project was a little less than $50! $25 for the chair and then roughly $25 for the fabric medium, paints and ORB spray paint!

What do you think?!? Anybody else want to try painting a chair? If so let me know how it turns out!