Rain on a Tin Roof

Tag: upholstery

Cheap Fabric by the Yard: Discount Upholstery Fabric under $15 a Yard

Upholstery and drapery fabric can be pretty pricey. Here though, you’ll find over 50 options of cheap fabric by the yard that isn’t pricey. It’s all under $15 a yard! Plus, find out where to find the best discounted prices for cheap upholstery fabric online.

In the last month or so, I have scoured online fabric stores looking for the perfect upholstery material for projects in my office and upcoming projects at the farm. Usually, I end up finding the perfect fabrics, but not at the perfect prices.

Champagne taste on a beer budget. The story of my life.

This time around though, I was pleasantly surprised to find a wide array of gorgeous home decor fabrics at really great prices! Here’s a fist bump to the fabric industry!

I picked some of what I think are best ones out there and rounded ’em up below. If you’re looking for some great upholstery options or some inspiration for your next home project, then start here – all of these home decor fabrics are less than $15 a yard!!

Where to Buy Cheap Fabric Online

In my experience, these are the three top places for finding indoor outdoor quality fabric at good prices:

Fabric.com

Fabric.com has one of the largest selections of upholstery fabric I’ve ever seen. There is some more high end fabrics, but there is a big ol’ selection of discount upholstery fabric too.

Online Fabric Store

Online Fabric Store is very similar to Fabric.com – they have a lot of different types of fabrics, with a great selection of cheap fabrics.

Joann

While Joann does have brick and mortar stores that sell fabric, they actually have a ton more fabric online that isn’t available in stores! You can use coupons to get extra discounts too!

Cheap Upholstery Fabric Online: Top Picks

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Affordable Blue Home Decor Fabrics

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15

There are a lot of blues here, I know. I just kept finding so many that were gorgeous that I couldn’t not include them all. My personal favorites are:

2 – Those roses! You’ll see them more in this post in other colors as well!

5 – The cobalt dragons. These sooo need to go somewhere in my house! I love the cobalt in this print – doesn’t make it too much.

11 – A blue leopard print. I love this twist on leopard print. I think the blue gives it a traditional, but lighter feel.

Affordable Green Home Decor Fabrics

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

I just used #2, the green cheetah type print, on the cornice in my office makeover – I’ll have photos of it up soon! It’s a gorgeous print and I’m so glad I found it for my office.

I’m desperately trying hard to find a place to fit #3, the zebras, into my house somewhere. Aren’t those great?

Affordable Red Home Decor Fabrics

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

I really like how the black was brought in to #1. Sometimes black and red can feel like a little too much together, but I think it’s the perfect pattern here.

I also love those bold red roses in #2 – the color is just stunning.

Affordable Pink Home Decor Fabrics

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

I think #1 might just be my favorite flamingo print I’ve seen on fabric to date. It’s not too childish and has a chic feel.

I adore those pink roses (#3) – they have a gorgeous vintage feel. Yes, they are the same print as the red ones above, just a different color. That pattern comes in lots of different colors!

Affordable Black and Gray Home Decor Fabrics

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

A good black and white stripe never goes out of style, but I especially love how the stripes on #5 have a more painted feel. They aren’t too stuffy.

Affordable Floral Home Decor Fabrics

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

Floral prints – particularly ones that have a vintage vibe – and I are having a moment. I’m starting to think about the design for the screened-in porch at the farmhouse since it never got done last year and I’m really leaning toward some vintage feel floral prints paired with mint green and black and white.

What are your favorite discount upholstery fabrics?

Have a favorite place for finding cheap home decor fabric by the yard? Tell us where in the comments!

Here are similar posts you might find helpful…

How I Buy Fabric Online Without Seeing It In Person First – a little technique I use for making sure those fabrics are going to work well together when I get them in place!

20 Affordable Upholstered Accent Chairs – gorgeous chairs at great prices!

How to Waterproof and Repel Stains on Fabric – protect that beautiful fabric on your furniture with this!

If you’d like to hang onto this post for the future, pin the image below!

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February 20, 2018
The Easiest Way to Clean Really Gross Vinyl Upholstery
The Circus and I have trekked through some interesting places in our yard sale and estate sale adventures. There are times I pray she doesn’t blurt out something about how bad it stinks wherever we are or how dirty the place is. Oftentimes, I bathe her in Germ-X when we get back in the car. Sometimes I pray there isn’t a psychopath waiting for us at the end of a long hallway in a dark basement.

The latter scenario is how I came to find this little gem.

Unfortunately though, this little gem was quite rough to begin with. The whole thing had to get a new paint job and the upholstery….

Whoo lawd, the upholstery, it was bad. It was greasy and grimy and after I loaded that thing in my truck, I’m certain I used an entire thing of hand sanitizer on my hands. That being said though, I bought it from a sweet old lady who was moving and honestly, I just don’t think she was able to get up and down those stairs to clean it anymore, bless her heart.

My first thought was that I would have to replace the upholstery completely, but I really loved that cute yellow piping on the cushions. So, instead I decided to try cleaning it with a cleaner I had used on a Mid-Century Modern sofa and chairs that had been in similar condition when I purchased it.

And it worked.

Like a charm.

How to Clean Vinyl Upholstery

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
- Zep All Around Cleaner and Degreaser
- Scrub Brush
- Paper Towels
Side note: There might be other cleaners that work, but this was the best one I found after trying a few. This post is NOT sponsored by Zep in any way, I was just amazed at how well their product worked and wanted to share with you.

Step 1.

You want to work in small sections, so first spray a section of part of the piece you are working on. With these cushions, I started with the top, fully cleaned it, then moved to the sides, cleaning each side completely before moving to the next one.

Let the cleaner sit on the upholstery for about 2-3 minutes.

Step 2.

Using your scrub brush, give the vinyl a good scrubbing. You should literally see the dirt, grease and grime start to lift away.

Step 3.

After you have scrubbed the section thoroughly, come back with a paper towel and wipe up all that gross junk.

With these cushions, it only took one round of cleaning per section. However, if your piece is really heavy with dirt and grime, it might take a couple of passes with the cleaner.

And because no cleaning post is good without a little side-by-side before and after action:

What’s even funnier is that I didn’t realize the vinyl was actually supposed to be white when I bought it, I knew it was dirty, but I just assumed it was more of a beige-y color with all the dirt.

I think the yellow piping is just too cute on these chairs. How could I not try to salvage those cushions?!

Any tricks you have for cleaning upholstery?

Want more shortcuts for cleaning? See these then…

How to Remove Rust and Polish Chrome – do not throw away rusty metal just yet! Try this first!

How to Clean Brass – who knew it was supposed to look like that?

Want to come back to this vinyl upholstery cleaning tip later? Just pin the image below!
May 18, 2017
Make Fabric Stain Resistant and Waterproof for Less than $10
Don’t chance your upholstery to kids or another red wine spill again! Learn how to make fabric stain resistant and waterproof it at the same time for only about $20.

Maybe you’ve figured out one of my dirty little secrets…

Ya know how when you see my dining room, you’ve never really seen the cushions on the chairs?

You may have seen a shot of the side of the chair seat, but not the whole thing.

Well, ummm…..

They were gross. Way gross and way past their makeover due date.

But I have a two year old, so I didn’t really want to re-upholster them and have her destroy them again in 2.0 seconds.

I looked longingly at fabric swatches, impatiently waiting for the day when my dining room chairs could shine once more.

One day, I happened upon the tool that would make them shine – without worrying about stains. I discovered how to waterproof and repel stains on fabric.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Thompson’s Waterseal. However, all gross seat cushions and opinions are 100% mine. This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

How to Waterproof Fabric and Repel Stains

This could quite possibly be one of the easiest, yet most valuable DIY projects of all time.

For me and my circus of a two year old anyway.

Here is a shot of one of my seat cushions before:

Ugh. I purposefully did not zoom in – because well, its just gross. You could probably discern between spaghetti sauce, mustard, and / or ketchup and who knows what else.

It was bad. Oh, and don’t worry about that brightly colored striped towel below the chair – its nothing new – just the catchall that sits under the kid’s chair when she loses her food.

Innovative, I am.

Materials and Supplies Needed:
- New Upholstery Fabric of Your Choice – This is my go-to online resource for gorgeous, yet affordable upholstery fabric.
- Thompson’s WaterSeal FabricSeal
Step 1

First off, you want to pick out pretty new fabric for your seats. I chose the gorgeous Williamsburg Portobello Vase Ladybug fabric from Online Fabric Store.

I fell for it the moment I saw it. Its a reproduction of fabric from the real Williamsburg, so if you have a nerdy of love of history like me, that’s kinda cool. It also has so many colors that it can work with just about anything.

Step 2

Measure and cut out the fabric you will need. I took the seats off my chairs, then laid it on the fabric and cut around it leaving extra to go over the edges.

Step 3

Lay all your fabric pieces out on a clean surface. I used a tarp. Give each piece a coat of Thompson’s WaterSeal FabricSeal. You may want to do a test spray on a small piece of fabric first to make sure it doesn’t change the color. (Mine was fine – no color change.) You are spraying this on the RIGHT side up of the fabric – not on the back.

You don’t want to saturate the pieces – just give them a nice even coat. Let them air dry for four hours, then give each piece another coat. Let them dry for four more hours, but wait 24 hours before exposing to moisture.

Step 4

Before you put them back on your seat cushions or make it into a pillow or whatever, you can test the seal by flipping water on the fabric to see if it will repel water now.

See those little bubbles of water? That mean’s the fabric is sealed. If it wasn’t sealed, the water would have seeped into the fabric. If the water doesn’t “bubble,” give the fabric another coat.

It took almost two cans for me to seal 6 pieces of large sized square cut pieces of fabric.

I am so happy to finally have pretty dining room chairs again.

After I re-upholstered my cushions, I tested out the stain and spill repellent-ness of the fabric seal a little more.

I took Coke and poured a little on one of the cushions.

I zoomed in so you could see the bubbling – it repelled the Coke!

I used a paper towel to soak up the Coke and this is what it looked like afterward:

Not a stain in sight!

Take note: According to the can, Thompson’s does recommend that you reapply the seal after any cleanings and annually.

Waterproofing sprays are also great to waterproof outdoor pillows and cushions that are always exposed to the elements.

You can find Thompson’s WaterSeal FabricSeal here.

Will you be stainproofing and waterproofing your upholstery now?

You might also want to see these other cleaning hacks and decor tips…

How to Clean Really Gross Vinyl Upholstery – the grime just melts off!

How to Get Pet Stains and Odors Out of Your Carpet Naturally – no harsh chemicals!

50+ Home Decor Fabrics under $15 a yard – gorgeous fabrics at low prices!

If you want to remember this upholstery waterproofing tip for later, just pin the image below!
May 1, 2014
Pink & Houndstooth Vintage Chair Makeover {Roadside Rescue}

This chair was a monumental find for me.

It was my first roadside find. I found it even before I found my metal cabinet that I turned into craft storage.

I was just, ummmm, slow, very slow about getting around to fixing it.

I think the wait was worth it though – I love how this chair makeover turned out.

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Where I live, there just don’t seem to be many roadside finds. I’ve been on the lookout for the better part of ten years and have found two to date.

I was so excited about this that I had my friend snap a picture when I was picking it up.

I’m a dork like that.

As with all things that seem too good to be true, this chair did have a flaw. The back legs looked to be missing their feet. They were both angled off.

To fix them, I chopped them off to make the back legs flat, then drilled a hole and put in feet from a table I had bought at a yard sale that I didn’t need.

After I fixed the feet, I stripped all the fabric off the chair, then gave it a coat of primer, then a couple coats of Dragon Fruit by Behr in a gloss finish. I used my HomeRight Finish Max Pro to do all the painting.

Next was ~~the fun part~~, upholstering. I was really excited about the fabric I chose – Houndstooth Black Fabric.

However, I was worried about upholstering this chair – perhaps why I had put it off for so long?

If you noticed the back of this chair was tufted. I was terrified of tufting. I had never once attempted it.

Now, I am so mad at myself for not trying it before – it was so easy!

Before attempting the actual tufting, I took the old buttons and wrapped them in the houndstooth fabric with hot glue.

‘Cause I’m a professional like that.

For the tufting:

First, I cut a piece of fabric that was about double the size of the back. You don’t need that much – I was just worried about not having enough. Then, I poked my buttons through, starting in the middle and working my way out.

You can see in #3 how it looks on the backside. You put a little disk through the metal prongs, then spread them out. After I had all the tufting done, I trimmed the fabric and stapled it around the edges, then trimmed it out, like I did on my Jonathan Adler inspired chair.

Next, I started on the seat. You can see the layers of everything below. Because I hate to sew anything that isn’t a straight line, I used the old seat cushion to trace out a new piece of foam and just made the whole seat one piece.

Before doing any of the main seat upholstery, I did these little patches on the side.

Then, I just cut a large piece of fabric, pulled, and stapled around the bottom of the chair as necessary.

I love the combination of the pink paint with the houndstooth fabric. I think it would be perfect for a little girl’s room.

I kept the trim a simple black just because there was so much color going on with the pink.

Have you ever done a chair makeover with a roadside find?

More Chair Makeovers & Upholstery Posts You Might Want To See:

How to Waterproof & Repel Stains on Fabric

How to Upholster a Cane Chair (Jonathan Adler Inspired)

French Country Chair Makeover

Restored Rocking Chair

Upholstered Box Spring

You know you don’t wanna miss any of this crazy.

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April 29, 2014
Super Easy No-Sew Upholstered Box Spring

When I showed you the guest bedroom’s new bedding a couple weeks back, some of you guys asked about the upholstered box spring. I hadn’t really planned on posting about it because I’ve seen a few other tutorials out there on how to do it.

But, since you asked, here is how I made my upholstered box spring. And of course, it’s no-sew. If I don’t have to sew – I don’t!

(more…)

March 19, 2014