Painting fabric can be a good way to upcycle a wingback chair.
A Wingback chair with a price tag marked $20 sat among the rows of furniture in my local Lifeline Superstore. At that low price, I couldn’t really go wrong. The upholstery was dated, but still in good condition and not worn or torn.
I’ve been wanting to find a chair for the corner of our bedroom, so I figured if my “experiment” to paint a wingback chair went wrong, I haven’t lost much, and have gained experience in the process.
I often get asked, “Can I paint fabric with Fusion Mineral Paint?” – short answer: yes! I do caution against painting anything with a nap, however, eg. velvet.
Cleaning & Prep
I have a quick video below showing more detail, but to prep the chair I simply gave it a really good vacuum.
Then to create a bit of a wash, instead of using up all my good paint colour that I wanted to end up with, I grabbed an older pot of a Fusion colour I hadn’t used in some time, and added water to approximately a 1:1 ratio.
Half water, half paint.
Start brushing it on fairly liberally, allowing the paint to soak into the fabric, staining the fabric and beginning to seal the fibres.
First Coat of a “Primer” of Sorts
I considered this first coat a primer, and you can see it’s still very transparent, but again, this is just my base coat (I used Hazelwood), so that I could avoid using up all my top coat colour, Iron Clay.
For the second coat, I created a less watery mixture using approximately 1 part water to 3 parts paint (Iron Clay).
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Brisbane furniture painters can find Fusion in my space upstairs in the Camp Hill Antique Centre on Old Cleveland Road.
Iron Clay by Fusion Mineral Paint
To paint my wingback chair, I chose Iron Clay in Fusion Mineral Paint’s latest range of earthy tones. The colour is close to the camel colour of our living room leather lounge. Although it won’t be in the same room, painting it Iron Clay, will tie in with the tones in my house nicely.
For my third coat, I used undiluted paint, giving a final solid coverage on the chair.
Dry then Sand Surface
Once completely dry, I used 240 grit sandpaper over the surface. The fabric fibres can harden and result in a rough surface. Sanding smooths the surface ready for waxing.
Wax Finish to Seal
To finish the whole piece, I used Fusion’s Clear Wax – a beautiful buttery carnauba wax that is so easy to apply with a wax brush.
Once applied thinly, I went back over the piece and buffed the wax with a lint free cloth.
Check the video below for a visual representation of my process and to see the results.
Removing finish & restaining legs
I removed the legs of the chair with a screwdriver, and began to strip them back to raw wood. I started with a paint stripper – in Australia, you can use Artisan’s Eco friendly paint stripper, Stripped Bare. It’s a great alternative to all the chemical strippers and so far it has worked great on all my water based paints and some oil based stains.
After removing the stripper, I washed the excess off the surface, allowed to dry, then sanded back the surface to a completely raw finish.
In this pic: top leg – raw; bottom leg – original finish.
I stained the legs using Fusion’s SFO in colour, Light Oak. The leg on the right in this pic is stained, the one on the left is raw.
SFO (Stain & Finishing Oil) is an oil based all in one, stain and sealer.
Easy to apply with a lint free cloth or applicator – wipe or brush on evenly.
After a couple minutes, wipe with the grain, removing excess SFO. Allow to dry before adding any more coats, depending how dark you want your stain.
Tap (arrow) through the gallery pics below for the results of this makeover. I’m happy with the results visually, but if you are painting fabric, be aware that it will not feel like soft upholstery fabric since paint hardens. It will be more like hard leather or vinyl upon finishing.
Looks fabulous. I would love to know if it feels like fabric to sit on or hardened paint… Thanks for the very easy to follow tutorial. Well done.
Yes, I mentioned this in the post towards the end, but this one does feel a bit harder to sit on, not soft like leather as many others have testified. however, I did use straight paint towards the last couple of coats and i’m wondering if this may have been why, since most people do a water to paint ratio and gradually add layers. The fabric was quite thick and strong to begin with, so I’m not sure how it might be with different types of fabric.
I’ve read that using a fabric softer 1:1 with water helps, have you ever tried this?
No I haven’t tried this. Thanks for sharing the tip.
i love this. I will have to buy some of the Iron Clay since it kind of mimics camel leather. Thank you for sharing.
Sonya (USA)
Thanks Sonya. Yes, you can use my code IRESTORESTUFF and save 10% if you don’t have a local retailer you purchase Fusion from. I love how it mimics camel leather. https://shop.fusionmineralpaint.com/sharon