Vintage Chair Makeover

Project Type / Decorating

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My friend Joanne was given these really cool armchairs from the 60s by her aunt. The upholstery was frayed around the piping, and the seats were pretty much thrashed, but the sides and backs were in decent shape, though sun and age had faded the vividness of the original fabric. My idea was not to reupholster them, but paint the chair. Everyone thought I was crazy. Even the decorative painter, Leonard Greco, didn’t want to do it. But I persevered, and the chair now looks like a museum piece. We did get new upholstered cushions, but for all the places on the chair that the body doesn’t touch, i.e., the sides and the back, paint was fine. And we didn’t use hard, brittle paint, but diluted Americana acrylic paints that soaked into the fabric and gave it a nice color wash. Oh, and I just touched up the frayed piping with Mod Podge. We painted over it, anyway.