Tag Archives: painted upholstery

Chamber of Secrets Progress: Chair Painting and Light Choosing

Things are moving along in the Chamber of Secrets.  We’re almost done with the built-ins, and I’m hoping to get the painting done in the next week or so.  We’ve made a decision on the floors (more on that another time),and I’ve picked out textiles for the window seat and curtains.  I’ve also finished the update on the Herman Miller shell chair and made some progress on choosing a light fixture.

Part One: Improved techniques for painting shell chair upholstery

I wrapped up my long ago post about painting the tulip chair with the statement that I probably wouldn’t try painting upholstery again, unless it were for outdoor furniture where high sheen and an asphalt-like texture might not be such big deterrents.  Well I was driven by necessity (and a meager budget) to eat my words and give it another try, and I’m so glad I did!  I gave you a sneak peek of the updated Herman Miller chair in my last post about the Chamber of Secrets, but today I want to share some details about what made this attempt at painted upholstery so much more successful than the last one.

Here’s a photo of the chair just after I’d paid $20 for it on Craigslist.  I really love the color of the original fabric, but unfortunately I couldn’t save it.  I tried steam cleaning, many stain removal products, and lots of elbow grease, but I was only able to upgrade it from revolting to disgusting.

the fabric was about a million times worse than it looks in this photo

After a quick paint job, here’s Herman now:

Red House West||Painted Upholstery

And here’s what I used:

  • Black latex interior paint in a flat finish (I had a quart of the least expensive paint I could find color matched to Benjamin Moore Onyx)
  • One bottle of textile medium
  • A container for mixing the paint and textile medium (I followed the directions on the bottle)
  • Paint brush
  • Spray bottle filled with water

The two major differences between this project and when I painted the tulip chair were the type of paint I used and the spray bottle of water.  For the tulip chair I used acrylic paint (which is what the tutorial I followed recommended).  It’s perfectly intuitive that shiny paint will result in shiny upholstery, but I was still so disappointed with how plastic looking my chair was in the end.  Even with the flat paint I used on Herman there’s still a slightly reflective quality, but it doesn’t bother me.

Red House West||Painted Upholstery

Using the spray bottle to wet the chair before I painted each coat also made a big difference.  The paint kind of soaked into the fabric rather than sitting on top of it.  I did about four coats, and sprayed a little less water each time.  After the painting was done I gave the fiberglass shell a good scrubbing with a Mr. Clean Eraser and polished up the chrome base with some Brasso.

I’m so happy with the way this chair turned out that it is completely off my to-do list.  I no longer feel the need to reupholster it, and can instead divert that money toward the tulip chair makeover fund.

The Herman Miller chair will live in the Chamber of Secrets, but I took a quick shot of the two shell chairs together looking like very beautiful fraternal twins.

Red House West||Painted Upholstery

Part Two: Choosing a light for the Chamber of Secrets

The next big task for the Chamber of Secrets is choosing an overhead light fixture.  With the addition of the built-ins, we’ll need to move the light’s location over about a foot so it’s still centered in the room.  That means a ceiling hole to patch (oh joy!  more drywall!) and I’d like to have it sorted out before painting.

Most of our downstairs light fixtures are schoolhouse shades from Schoolhouse Electric, and we’re considering doing that upstairs too.  They look nice, give good light, and are kind of undemanding visually.  Here’s a shot of the fixture in our living room:

Red House West||Chamber of Secrets: Making a Design Plan

I like them a lot, but I also like the idea of something a little more… adventurous.  In case you need a reminder, here’s the inspiration board for the Chamber of Secrets:

Red House West||Chamber of Secrets: Making a Design Plan

Red House West||Chamber of Secrets: Making a Design PlanAnd here are some of the lights we’re considering for in there.  The ceiling isn’t super high, so some of these drop fixtures would need to be shortened to make them work.

Red House West||Ceiling Light Round Up 1 Factory Satellite – Schoolhouse Electric; 2 Art Deco Light – eBay; 3 Mushroom Shade – eBay; 4 Vanadin – Ikea; 5 Striped Schoolhouse Shade – Schoolhouse Electric; 6 Alghult – Ikea

Numbers two and three are eBay listings, so no guarantee they’re still available.  Neither of them is exactly cheap ($315 and $199 respectively), but they’re both such beautiful and unique vintage options.  Although I love the Factory Satellite (number one), I’m a little concerned that some of the charm would be lost if we had to shorten the drop.  Number five is similar to what we have in the rest of the house, and I really love the added pizazz the stripes give it.  Four and Six are both Ikea options and are waaaay cheaper than the others ($39.99 each) and I think they could both work.  I’m kind of partial to number six, but I’d want to paint the chrome part of the fixture black.  I think a trip to the Portland Ikea to check them out in person just may be in our future!

Do you have a clear favorite of the ones I’ve shared?  Any other great sources for lighting I should check out?  Thanks for reading along and have a wonderful rest of your week!

A project in which I avoid ‘a slum of legs’ and also learn to temper my DIY expectations

this is the story of this chair and how sometimes the pictures in my head have nothing to do with reality)

This is the story of this chair and how sometimes my expectations are incongruent with reality

About two weeks ago, Cam and I stopped at a garage sale just a few blocks from our house. The guy running it had some good quality furniture and interesting ceramics and, tucked in the back of the dim garage, a totally busted and rusted Saarinen pedestal – or tulip – chair. According to the Knoll website, Eero Saarinen designed his iconic Pedestal Collection to address the “ugly, confusing, unrestful world” he observed underneath chairs and tables — the so-called “slum of legs.”

As I stood in the jumbled garage, I’m pretty sure my thoughts were along the lines of, “Well, now that I think of it, there certainly is a slum of legs at my house, and this chair just might be the remedy.”

The guy said he’d take $5 for it. Sold.

In my online research, I learned that this style of tag suggests the chair was made around 1959

In my online research, I learned that this style of tag suggests the chair was made around 1959

I came gleefully home with my treasure and then took a good hard look at it. It was missing its cushion. The upholstery was ratty and filthy, with crumbling foam poking out of small tears. The fabric on the arms was so frayed it looked like goat beards hanging down. The aluminum base was almost entirely devoid of paint and was badly rusted and pitted. I’d brought home an ‘iconic piece of mid-century design,’ but it wasn’t something I really wanted in my house.

Note the frayed arm, but please ignore the grey cushion; I'll explain that in a moment.

Note the frayed arm, but please ignore the grey cushion; I’ll explain that in a moment.

This picture doesn't show the truly horrific state of the fabric, but it does highlight the poor condition of the chair's base.

This picture doesn’t show the truly horrific state of the fabric, but it does highlight the poor condition of the chair’s base.

Upholstering this kind of chair is way outside of my skill set. There is a place online called retro redo that specializes in reupholstering shell chairs in period-appropriate fabric, but they are outside my budget and probably will be for quite a while.

So what to do? The problems the chair had were more than could be mitigated by a sheepskin thrown over it, but I didn’t want it to languish in our storage area until I could afford to get it redone. Then I found this tutorial online and thought I had found the answer: painted upholstery. Brilliant. A short-term solution that would make the chair usable, but wouldn’t alter it in a permanent way. Down the road I could still have the chair restored to its former glory. So I got to work.

The first thing I did was make a pattern for a new cushion. I looked at images online of original chairs to get a sense of shape and scale, and then used a newspaper to trace the outline and make a pattern.

If I mention my shame at the kitty litter in the background, will that make it go away?

If I mention my shame at the kitty litter in the background, will that make it go away?

patterning the cushion 2

I had both foam and fabric left over from a previous project.  Because I planned on painting the cushion to match the chair, I was mostly concerned that the texture of the fabrics be similar.

I had both foam and fabric left over from a previous project. Because I planned on painting the cushion to match the chair, I was mostly concerned that the texture of the fabrics be similar.

Following the advice of the upholstery painting tutorial I’d found online, I used black acrylic paint and a fabric medium – which is supposed to keep the paint supple and make the final product softer (*spoiler* supposed to) – that I got at JoAnn Fabrics. I used a coupon, and it cost about $17 for all the supplies. I vacuumed the heck out of the chair and gave the goat beards a little shave using a utility knife. I headed out into the sunshine and started painting the chair. I also painted the new cushion so it would match.

My hopes were high when I first began

My hopes were high when I first began

Black tulip in the spring sunshine

Black tulip in the spring sunshine

I did one coat on Saturday and let it dry overnight. I did a second coat early on Sunday morning and then a third on Sunday afternoon. I also (with no small amount of effort) removed the final remnants of the paint from the base. I gave the fiberglass shell a good cleaning (which was very satisfying) and, after a final going-over with a Mr Clean Magic Eraser, it was sparkling like new.

And the final verdict? It turned out… okay. In what is probably a surprise to no one but me, painted fabric looks exactly like painted fabric. Or maybe like wet asphalt. And it feels just like painted fabric. Or maybe like sandpaper. When I first laid brush to fabric, I had convinced myself that when it was done it would look like a newly upholstered chair. About midway through the second coat, it was obvious that the final product would be very different from the image in my head. It’s shinier than I expected and scratchier and, although the paint goes a long way in hiding some of the fabric’s defects, a lot are still visible.

Afternoon sunlight reflecting (unfortunately) off the chair

Afternoon sunlight reflecting (unfortunately) off the chair

I’ve visited it often in the last few hours (I like to go into the room to try and ‘surprise’ it, to see if maybe it’s changed) and, though it’s certainly not perfect, I’ve decided it is leagues better than the battered red. It’s clean and usable and I’ll get to enjoy its lovely shape until I can afford a proper reupholstery job. I’m going to do a little research on the cost of getting the base re-painted and, depending on what I find out, I might have that done in the interim. Based on this experience, I doubt I’ll try painting upholstery again, unless it’s outdoor furniture where stiff and shiny fabric wouldn’t be quite such a deterrent. I should note, however, that there are lots of fabric-painting supporters out there on the interwebs and, if you’re on the fence and thinking about trying it, you should check out their experiences too.

tulip chair after with pillow good light

As a palate cleanser for a pretty frustrating DIY, I made the cheerful little polka dot pillow that’s sitting on the chair. It was a perfectly gratifying project: it only took about half an hour and I was able to do it with materials I already had. For the cover, I used this awesome (and easy) tutorial and vintage fabric. What makes the pillow in my opinion? Those cute tassels.

Be still my heart

Be still my heart

I’ve been on a tassel-tying tear the last two weeks, working on a DIY I plan to share next week. I’ll share a tutorial then too and, if you’re anything like me, you’ll soon be looking at everything in your home and thinking how much better it would look festooned with cheerful tassels.

#stuffonmycat

#stuffonmycat

Thanks for reading this post! Anybody else had a DIY letdown lately?