Painting upholstery

Jimmy_Neutron

When I bought my new house a lot of quality furniture was left behind by the old lady who sadly died, I have had the British Heart Foundation collect some of it but there is a three piece set of furniture in which the colour has faded and I would like to update to a darker colour.

Has anyone painted upholstery and if what did you use and was the result good? The material is velour and is a pinkish kind of colour.

Aylesbury_Duck

I would think you're better off dyeing it rather than painting it. You will probably have to pay a professional to take the upholstery off and dye it, and having gone that far you may as well pay to have it re-upholstered in a fabric of your choice.

I don't fancy the chances of a DIY paint or dye job turning out well.

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine

You could always buy some large throws to cover the furniture with - it'll protect the fabric whilst also looking nicer than what's already covering it. Probably cheaper than reupholstering, too!

lessonlearned

I am thinking of doing this too. There are loads of how to videos on u-tube and Pinterest. They all seem to favour using Annie Sloane chalk paint.

Otherwise, if the covers are washable, then you could machine dye them. I have done that before very successfully, went from yellow to terracotta using the Dylon machine wash dyes.

I am definitely going to give it a go (after I've moved). My thoughts are.....for the sake of say £20 worth of paint, it's worth a try. If it's not successful then I can always make some slip covers.

datostar

Any paint will alter the appearance of velour, and would be unlikely to stand up to the constant movement and flexing if anybody actually sits on the furniture. A gloss paint would probably crack and flake and an emulsion type rub off on to people's bottoms.

lucywillow

I have tried this with mixed results.
Last year I painted 6 suede effect type storage ottomans using a grey chalk paint. Whilst they look fine the suede is now very hard & stiff. This is fine for the ottomans which don't get sat on but I wouldn't like the feeling on a chair or sofa. Also a seat would have more 'give' than an ottoman and I think the finish would crack over time. I did experiment and painted one where I mixed the paint with PVA as this supposedly gives more flexibility but I don't think it would give a 'comfy' result.

I too have had good results with Dylon Fabric Dye. IKEA sell plain cream covers for some of their sofas ( I believe they're called Ektorp or similar) If your furniture is a similar size this could be a cost effective option which you could then dye to the colour of your choice.

Failing that, TK Maxx has a large choice of throws, particularly at this time of year. Some of which are very stylish, reasonably priced & can be chucked in the W/machine if you spill your cuppa!
Good Luck whatever you decide.