Wingback chairs are so darn cute! It has that vintage elegance-except that for my personal taste the flowers are not my thing or patterns on fabric chairs usually are things that I’ll walk away from. But this was thrown away and I could not, would not let this little treasure go to waste. I saw the potential this piece could have.

This project is special for two reasons:

1.This is my first time painting fabric.

2. It’s so freaking PINK! If you can’t tell, I just have a thing for pink.

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This is what the chair looked like before I painted it. Ivory, green, rose, flowers and stripes, just blah. The chair was in perfect conditions, no rips or stains. Upholstering was not an option because I can’t do it myself and although I haven’t checked, I’m pretty sure it’s not cheap. But that didn’t stop me. I knew I can make this transformation happen easily. I wanted to make this bright and cheery so I went with the brightest pink I could find in chalk paint at Michael’s crafts store. You can find a great variety of colors and even custom tint your favorite color here.

I used six bottles to get the coverage I was looking for. I really wanted to hide the pattern. These were small, 8 ounce bottles. I used the color raina magenta chalk paint.

Materials Needed:

• Spray Bottle
• Chalk Paint
• Clear Wax
• Paint Brushes
• Stir Stick
• Gold Metallic Spray Paint
• Fabric Softener
• Bowl or container to mix paint and fabric softener
• Painters tape if you have trim you do not want to paint

Here’s what I did:

Prep by cleaning surfaces and tape off whichever area you do not want to paint. I didn’t tape off the legs because these were removable. Mix in equal parts chalk paint and fabric softener. The paint should be thin, not thick. Fill up your spray bottle with water. You want to make sure that your fabric is wet before you apply paint, but not dripping wet. Depending on the temperature when you paint your fabric, will be the wait time. Make sure you allow your coats to dry to the touch in between layers. I did this in the garage, on very hot days so my waiting time was around 20 minutes. Of course, having little ones desperately wanting my attention I did one coat of paint per day. The hardest part of this project was just waiting lol.

Here’s after 4 coats of paint. At this point, I really thought this was it. The color I picked was just not going to cover all those flowers on the chair. But I kept going back to Michael’s to get more paint lol. Re-apply more thin paint coats until you achieve your desired coverage. Once I didn’t see anymore flowers and lines peeking through I was so happy. Lastly, apply the wax with a brush or a lint-free cloth and remove any excess as you go.

Note: This is NOT a dye, so painting the chair will change the feel of the fabric. The fabric is a little stiff. It feels more like leather-ish/vinyl kind of, you know what I mean? Like outdoor/patio cushions. I’ll just pop a few pillows, a throw blanket it and this is going to be my new cozy reading spot.

I LOVE how feminine, stylish and modern it looks with the hot magenta pink and gold. This was exactly the look I was going for. Isn’t she a beauty?

So, what do you think? Maybe I’m a little crazy for painting a fabric chair? Maybe I am, but it works- ha! I’ll definitely let you know in a few months how it’s holding up.

I would love to answer any questions or concerns that you may have. I’m planning on painting a velvet sofa in a couple of weeks!!! Look for that update here.