This post is sponsored by Velvet Finishes, however all opinions are 100% mine.
I’m ashamed to tell you how long I’ve had this chair sitting in the garage ready to be made over. I’ll say it’s been the better part of a year at the least. It was one of those purchases that went like this:
It’s $10! I can’t pass it up for $10!
But you don’t need it Jenna.
I know that. But it’s $10!!!
You don’t need it.
$10.
Make a smart decision, Jenna.
Ok. I’m buying it.
Said conversation was between myself and myself of course.
So since I really had no clue what to do with it or where I would put it, it just sat for a while. And then one day, I got a wild hair and decided I would attempt to paint the upholstery on this piece rather than re-upholstering it since I’d never tried painting it before. I only had $10 to lose. Here’s how it turned out…
Not half bad! I didn’t set out for it to turn out so preppy / Kate Spade-ish, but I think it works with the chair pretty well. Here’s what I did…
Polka Dot Chair Makeover
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What I Used:
- Velvet Finishes Handsome
- Velvet Finishes Glamorous
- Velvet Finishes Minimalistic
- Medium Sized Pouncer
- Good Paintbrush
- FrogTape
- Fine Grit Sandpaper
Step 1
The upholstery of this piece was not in great condition. It looked like a cat had maybe clawed around the edges a bit, so I cleaned up that with some scissors first.
After that, I actually got out my shop vac and vacuumed really well in all the nooks and crannies of the upholstery since I knew I was going to paint it.
Step 2
After vacuuming, I painted the wood portions of the chair with Velvet Finishes Handsome.
Handsome is the same color I used on my kitchen cabinets. It’s a classic navy shade. I just used my paintbrush and painted right onto the wood. If you have a really shiny finish to begin with, you can prime your piece with Ready, which is a simple to use spray primer, before painting it. If you don’t have a shiny finish, then you usually won’t need a primer with Velvet Finishes. I did two coats of Handsome.
Step 3
I let the Handsome dry overnight, then the next day, I tackled the upholstery. First, I taped off around the woodwork so I wouldn’t get any paint there, then I just slapped on some Glamorous with my paintbrush.
It took about four coats of paint on the upholstery, which I expected since I knew the upholstery would absorb so much of the paint.
Step 4
After the upholstery dried it was a little bit “tough” so to speak. Kellie had told me that sanding it with a fine grit sandpaper would loosen it up.
So that’s what I did. I lightly sanded over all the upholstery with about a 150 grit sandpaper. It made the upholstery feel less “tough” and more like a faux leather type upholstery.
Step 5
After sanding, I thought the chair was a little boring – it needed some pattern or something to make it pop, so I added in polka dots.
I just used a medium sized pouncer and Minimalistic and randomly placed polka dots all over the upholstery.
And all of a sudden, it became an incredibly cute chair.
You can still see some of the upholstery’s pattern through the paint, but unless you are painting plain fabric, I think that’s gonna happen.
The pillow is from Target – it’s the first purchase for the Circus’ new room at the 70’s Landing Pad. It went with the chair perfectly, so I couldn’t resist not using it in the photos.
What do you think of the preppy polka dotted chair?
You know you don’t wanna miss any of this crazy.
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Disclosure: This post was a collaboration with Velvet Finishes, however all opinions and hoarding of chairs I don’t need are 100% mine.