How to Paint an Upholstered Chair With Latex Paint

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ProtectYourEverything #CollectiveBias

I have seen tutorials around the internet claiming that you can paint upholstery with latex paint. Say what?!

You might be wondering the same thing I was… can you use latex paint to paint fabric?

I had always wanted to try it, but didn’t want to do it on something huge in case it didn’t turn out as well as I wanted it to. Or as soft.

Well, this $4.99 chair I found at our local thrift store practically begged me to take it home to experiment on. It turned out FANTASTIC.

Well worth the weird looks and visits from neighbors who couldn’t believe I was painting an upholstered chair with latex paint.

Many people’s minds were blown, you wouldn’t believe what it used to look like…

The process was actually pretty simple, too.

I’m telling you, if you have an old chair needing a new life or if you find a piece of furniture at the thrift store that’s just not the right color then THIS TUTORIAL IS FOR YOU.

EASY THRIFT STORE CHAIR UPHOLSTERY MAKEOVER: How to Paint Upholstery with Latex Paint

Materials You’ll Need…

• an upholstered chair
• 1 quart latex paint (I chose satin finish)
• 2 bottles of textile medium (depending on how big your furniture is, you might need more)
• Upholstery cleaner
• Scotchgard™ Fabric & Upholstery Protector

Tools You’ll Need…

• Measuring cup (I used a disposable cup and marked a line on it)
• Mixing container
• Paint brush
• Fine grit sandpaper
• Rag

Step 1: Prepare the furniture

If you are transforming a thrifted piece of furniture as I am, let the chair air out for a few days in the garage.

Then, give it a good cleaning with some upholstery cleaner.

After that, vacuum it like crazy.

The piece was pretty clean to begin with (for a thrift store chair) but I wasn’t going to take any chances. It still had some dirt smudges from wear and tear, but I was hoping the paint would help me forget about that 😉

Step 2: Mix your latex paint and textile medium

Mark a line on a disposable plastic cup to measure.

Mix 1 part textile medium to 2 parts latex paint.

The textile medium essentially waters it down and turns it into a fabric dye that will soak into the upholstery permanently.

I mixed mine together in a disposable container that I could just throw away when I was done with it (a deli meat container that I washed out, to be exact).

Step 3: Paint your furniture

Some tutorials recommend that you spray down the fabric with water before you start dying.

I did not. I forgot (oops).

Apply a generous coat of the paint/textile medium mixture. You want the textile medium mixture to soak into the fabric just like a dye would.

Mine soaked in nicely despite my oops.

Let each coat dry thoroughly before adding additional coats. Because the color of my dye was pretty dark, I only needed to do one coat with a little bit of touch ups after it dried.

Step 4: Sand the furniture until it’s as soft as you desire

When all coats are very thoroughly dry, lightly sand with fine grit sandpaper and wipe down with a wet rag. This helps to soften the fabric even further.

I probably could have done without this step because it was already just as soft as it was before, but I tried it anyways.

Step 5: Protect your furniture

To protect your new awesome chair, spray it down with Scotchgard™ Fabric & Upholstery Protector using slow, overlapping strokes.

This chair is going in our “man cave” room where we hang out when we have people over. With how pretty the chair is now, I wanted to repel as many possible spills and stains as I could.

For a $4.99 chair, I think it looks pretty darn spiffy now! It fits perfectly into the corner of our man cave for additional seating when we have company over.

And with the coat of Scotchgard Fabric & Upholstery Protector I don’t have to worry about any man cave beer spills 😉