Spray Painting Upholstered Furniture

I'm feeling a little better today and have been busy catching up on house work and other projects, but I wanted to get one last post in before the weekend.

As you all know, I've wanted a pair of x benches to put in my bedroom for quite a while now. Even the basic, plain white x benches from Ballard were going to run me about $400. So, I scoured eBay and Craig's List. A few months of searching later, I found these bad boys on Craig's List for $15 a pop.


Now, some people say the granny/Sante Fe 80s are back. Though many an eyebrow was raised over this room published in Domino, designed by Kelley Wearstler. Is it ugly or cutting edge?


Whether Santa Fe seafoams and peaches are back or not, the x benches were purchased for my bedroom and I needed them to be dark.

I considered reupholstering the benches myself. But I am in the middle of THREE upholstery projects right now and the idea of doing all that piping was making my head spin. Can you blame me?

BEFORE
{Nothing beats spray painting in the snow}

So I called a number of professional upholsters. The cheapest quote I got was $175 per bench (not including the fabric) just for the labor. Yeah. Thanks, but no thanks.

Enter: Google search "spray painting fabric"

After one coat of Navy Blue upholstery spray paint

I've read online that you can use regular old latex paint (brushed on) or spray paint from the hardware store to paint upholstery. I was a little skeptical with that prospect (though I plan to try it out in the very near future), so I decided to go with a special spray paint made for upholstery by this company that promises the painted fabric will stay soft after drying.


The customer service was great and I received my three bottles of navy blue spray paint the day after I placed my order. {P.S. enter 'thanks' in the checkout for 10% off your order}

Upholstery spray paint colors currently available.

Verdict? I found that the painted fabric was a little stiff at first, though it was softer than I expected. It's been about 3 weeks now, and the fabric has really loosened up. Still, I don't think I'd paint a whole sofa. I'd stick with smaller upholstered furniture - benches, headboards, dining chairs, etc.


Anyway, after the paint dried, I decided to use some black fabric paint on the piping (applied with a brush) to make the benches pop a little more.


What do you think?