The Chair

This doesn't really have a thing to do with photography, but it does involve my studio, so I wanted to share. Plus, I'm pretty proud of my work, lol. ( ;

Last spring, I mentioned to my husband that I would love an antique-looking chair to use for some sessions. Back then, I was still shooting in our living room, of course, and we just had no room to store something as large as a chair. My husband listened, though, and not long after that conversation, he came home one day with an antique chair in the back of his truck! He found it at an antique store in South Carolina and got a great deal on it. He thought it would match a backdrop I had just purchased for Mommy & Me sessions. Bless his heart, it did not match at all! I absolutely loved the style of the chair, but the fabric was NOT my taste at all.

If you can't tell, that's pink and blue! I love the detail on the arms and legs, though, and it was in really good condition. Since I didn't have the means or funds to reupholster it, we put it under plastic in the barn, and I forgot about it for a while.

Fast forward several months later, my friend Mollie (same one who designed my Christmas Mini set!) suggested I paint the chair. I've heard of this before, but all the painted chairs I've seen were super stiff. Knowing paint would be much cheaper than paying someone to reupholster the chair, I started researching. Turns out, you can use chalk paint on fabric and if you do it right, the furniture remains soft and comfortable.

After weeks of reading tons of blog posts and tutorials about the subject, I finally purchased some Annie Sloan chalk paint. After Christmas, I got to work!

You water down the chalk paint, so you're more staining the fabric than actually painting it. You want the paint to soak into the fabric. I was pretty alarmed after the first coat! Most of the tutorials I read said they got by with just one coat of paint. I guess I watered mine down more than they did. You have to let each coat dry for at least 24 hours, so this is a long process. Oh, and in between each coat you have to sand the fabric to get it soft again.

I ended up with FOUR coats of paint, but I'm glad I took my time because my chair is pretty soft and supple. It kind of looks like leather in person.

After the final coat of paint is really dry (I waited a few days just to be sure), you seal it with wax. I think you can use any kind of wax, but just to be consistent I purchased the Annie Sloan wax. The wax takes a couple days to really set in. Its been three days now, and I'm calling this chair DONE! My husband still says I ruined his chair, lol. I think it looks much nicer! I may eventually paint the arms and legs a cream color (or light gray), but for now I'm happy with it. (And the only reason I'm even thinking about it is because the arms and legs are pretty beat up in places.)

Because I love a before and after comparison, here ya go! Have you ever painted a fabric chair like this? I'd love to hear about it!