Pathetic to Pretty

I bought four chairs at my local Habitat for Humanity for $10 a piece just before Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. At first glace I thought the fabric just needed a good scrubbing (and a quick look under the chair told me they were from Haverty). But even oxyclean couldnt work her magic on these. Their glorious "bones" made them a shoe in for reupholstering, though I've never done anything beyond a simple chair job (where you just pull up the seat and recover).

So I did what any reasonable person would do the week of Thanksgiving, I bought stretchy chair covers from Target. Then they sat there for about two years.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. We'd been doing several projects post-Christmas to get the house party ready for a baby shower. Two days before the party I did what I should have done in the first place, I painted the chairs.

I did not paint the wood, I painted the fabric.

little time + little patience = resourcefulness

I bought two bottles of Martha Stewart Fabric Medium and added it to plain ol'white acrylic craft paint. I used a roller for the bulk of it and a sponge craft brush for the rest.















sorry about the poor quality picture...before is on the left, after on the right.

The results...my husband gave them the offical thumbs up and said they look like brand new chairs (!). And I couldn't agree more!

Critque, the paint definetly changed the feel of the fabric and they pick up lint like crazy now. It's been about 4 weeks and they are still going strong!