How To Paint Upholstery So It’s Not Crunchy!

The wonderful thing about chalk mineral paint is you can paint fabric on furniture. Here is how to paint upholstery so it’s not crunchy.

Can I paint the fabric on a chair? Absolutely! The great thing about painting upholstery it’s water proof. It is a lot easier than reupholstering.

My issue was the seats to the chair did not screw in. It was glued to the wood. To get the seat off would have damaged the chair. My alternative was to paint the fabric.

What kind of paint can I use to paint a fabric chair?

This is a great question that I often hear. Often it depends on the fabric and is a personal preference. I have found that highly pigmented Chalk Mineral Paints work the best to paint upholstery.

My favorite go to paint products are from Dixie Belle Paint Company. I have been working with this their products for more than a year. Their products are some of the best on the market. On my blog products shared are items that I love and use in my own home.

how to select a color

Start with an inspiration item such as a photo, paint, wallpaper or fabric swatches. Is there a color you want to pull from your fabric or wallpaper swatch? Are you trying to match the color in a room?

I am in the progress of redoing my craft room. It’s a place where I can be creative. I wanted to chose fun happy colors for the room.

Here is my inspiration for colors. I found this beautiful wallpaper on Spoon Flower. The beautiful aqua, pinks and corals spoke to me.

The walls were being painted in Sherwin Williams Aqua Duct. You can see the paint sample above. For my chair, I am going to use a coral color. Dixie Belle’s has the perfect color for this project, a Chalk Mineral Paint in the Color Flamingo.

SUPPLIES

This is a paid sponsored post. All of the opinions regarding the products that I am using are my own.

Affiliate links are used for your convenience at no additional cost to you. It helps to support my blog so that I can bring you more free tutorials. Thank you! Read my full disclosure here.

• Easy Peasy Wax
• Continuous Mister Bottle
• Chalk Mineral Paint in the Color Flamingo
• Pearlscent Glaze (optional)
• Satin Clear Coat
• Boss (optional)
• Pristine Cleaner – to clean your piece of furniture
• 2″ Mini Angle Paint Brush
• Foam N Daddy 1.5 sponge brush
• Sanding Sponge
• Tack Cloth
• Chair

Tutorial How To Paint Upholstery So It’s Not Crunchy

1. Sanding

This step may not always be necessary. It will depend on the project. This chair had just a slight sheen to it. I decided to use a sanding block to knock done the sheen. It is good to use a tack cloth was used to try to remove as much dust before washing the piece.

2. Clean Your Furniture

After sanding your piece of furniture, it is good idea to clean your surface before painting with Pristine Clean to remove the dust and grime. Pristine Clean will remove all dust from sanding. This quality cleaner will de-grease and remove all debris from the surface of your piece.

3. painting

This is my favorite part to paint a piece of furniture. To me it is tranquil and relaxing. Plus, it is fun to transform something plain or ugly into something very beautiful. It is like breathing new life into something.

Normally, on dark furniture I will use Dixie Belle’s Boss. The wood on this chair was lighter. Therefore, I skipped the step of adding Boss. BIG MISTAKE! It took me almost four coats of paint to cover. If I had used Boss, it would have taken two coats. Lesson learned!

What is Boss?

It is a great primer available in clear, white or gray. Did you know that BOSS can eliminate a piece of furniture that has that “old” smell to it. BOSS can tackle tough set in stains including permanent marker, water stains, and much more. BOSS even masks smoke odors and nicotine smells.

The product BOSS stands for:

Blocks

Odors

Stains

Stops Bleed thru

It’s a great products to use for your furniture projects. Allow to dry approximately one hour. Apply a second coat of BOSS and allow to dry for one hour before painting with Dixie Belle Paint. 

4. painting fabric SO it is not crunchy or stiff

How do you paint fabric without it getting stiff?

When using the Dixie Belle Paint Company’s Chalk Mineral Paint, here is a little trick. Water is your best friend!

This step is very important! If you skip this step, your fabric will be stiff and crunchy. And, we do not want that at all!

What happens by misting the fabric with water, it causes the fibers to open up. Why is this important? It’s so the fibers can accept the paint easily. Adding the paint on dry fabric, you will use more paint. It will dry quickly and leave your fabric crunchy.

After the first coat of Chalk Mineral Paint, I gave it another mist of water to touch up any areas where the paint was too light.

While the fabric was drying, you can paint a second coat on the wood of the chair frame.

How do you seal chalk paint on fabric? There are several different ways and it depends on the type of project. For fabric on furniture is to apply a soft wax such as Dixie Belle’s Easy Peasy Wax.

What I love about this product is it repels dust, dirt, grime and water. The Easy Peasy Wax is odor free and has low VOC’s.  Did you know that it is water-based spray on wax is Eco-Friendly?

Yes, I most certainly was careful spraying the wax around my dog, Piper. My foot is pushing her back. She has to get right into my business.

Since the Dixie Belle Easy Peasy Spray Wax is water-based, it is formulated to dry within approximately 30 minutes. It also has a curing time of 6 hours. I do recommend that you spray at least two coats. Always follow the direction on the product container and Dixie Belle’s website. I waited 2 hours before spraying a second coat of spray wax on the fabric.

Be extra careful not to get the wax on your furniture.

5. using a glaze – Optional

This chair is being used in my craft room. To add a touch of whimsy, I am using a pearlescent glaze. It will not change the color. It will add a slight shimmer to my project.

I like to use the Foam N Daddy 1.5 sponge brush to apply a glaze. You can also use a lint free cloth to wipe off areas that you do not want the glaze or if it’s too heavy.

My cute side kick is Piper. She is a 2-year old French Bulldog. Actually, her birthday is this Friday and will be turning 3. She loves to hang out in my craft room to keep me company.

6. sealing

Most of my furniture projects if using Silk All-In-One, no extra top coat is necessary. However, I am using Chalk Mineral Paint on a dining chair. If have a piece of furniture that will get moved around and can get a lot of wear, it is good to protect it.

To protect my project, I will be adding two coats of Clear Coat Satin. In between the coats, I will lightly sand and wipe down to remove any dust with a tack cloth. It will also seal and protect the glaze on the chair.

The finished Project

BEFORE

Here is the before photo again. It is a beautiful chair that needs to be repurposed for another room. I kept two of these chairs because they are extremely comfortable.

AFTER

It looks brighter in the photo. Wish you could see it in person. This chair is a gorgeous coral shade and looks fabulous with the aqua wall color.

It also pulls that pop of color from the draperies and soon the wallpaper that will be in one section of the room.

PIN IT!

Sign up for notifications of my post. I will be sharing my craft room makeover here on the blog. There are several items that are going to get an amazing transformation and totally new look. See how I transform and old table and armoire for this craft room project.

There are going to be tips on how to organize a craft room and some other fun surprises. Follow along, sweet friends!

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