How to Paint Fabric Chairs

Do you have an old chair laying around with outdated upholstery? Don't get rid of it yet; give it a fabulous new look with paint! Read on in this post to learn our tips and tricks for how to get started with fabric painting.

In this tutorial we'll show you how to paint your fabric and upholstery to make it beautiful again. If you'd rather watch a video, we also have a video tutorial available in the last step.

The paint and brushes used in this tutorial can be found on our website at www.countrychicpaint.com.

As always with painting, start by shaking your can thoroughly, then opening it up and giving it a stir. To avoid potentially contaminating your entire can of paint, pour some off into a cup for use on your project.

If you're painting just one area of your chair or there are accents that you wish to leave as is, use some painter's tape to protect them.

Before applying your paint, spray down the entire fabric surface with water. It doesn't need to be soaking wet, just damp. This will help the paint spread more smoothly and help to avoid that crunchy feeling once it dries.

Before the water dries, begin applying your first coat of paint. Keep in mind that the tighter the weave, the less paint the will soak into the fabric. If you find that the paint is drying too stiff for your liking, there are fabric mediums on the market which you can mix in with the paint to help soften the feel.

We would advise against trying to paint a very loose weave fabric as it will require a lot of paint to get opaque coverage.

As you can see in the above picture, the paint will often soak into the fabric while it dries. To achieve a more opaque look, give the first coat about 1 hour to dry, then apply a second coat.

Watch this video to see company co-founder, Rosanne painting a fabric chair seat in Sunday Tea!