Fourth Coat's a Charm

Some projects are more difficult than others. This was one of those. I knew a whole couch would be a challenge. But to be fair, I didn't pick this project. 

Mom did. Sometime during my home-buying and moving process, I got a text from my mom, who had promised to scour the neighborhood yard sale for me. She'd found a couch that she thought I would like and the neighbors were slashing the price for me, out of the kindness of their hearts.

"Sure," I said, unable to really tell how it looked in the photo. "If you think it looks good." 

So she got it, because she could see all of the potential in the piece. But, I'll be honest, when I first saw it and realized it was another project, I wasn't exactly excited. The fabric was irreversibly stained and needed an update. An update I was super reluctant to start, what with in-progress projects in every room of my home. I had to admit, the beast had a lovely frame. And I could certainly use some more seating for entertaining. 

I immediately knew reupholstering was way out of my league, and I had heard about painting couches, so I began to do my research. 

I began by pulling off the ribbonny stuff, which research tells me is called "gimp trim."

Then I painted the wooden trim a slate grey that I'm using in my kitchen (I promise some more kitchen photos are on their way).

Next, I mixed my paint recipe: fabric medium (found at A.C. Moore), water and latex paint, following a tutorial I found on The Kim Six Fix. I began with an off-white that I had left over from my laundry room, but soon realized I didn't have enough to last. So, I figured I'd just use the rest of the trim paint I had around the house. I wanted a light colored couch, so that Merlin's hair won't show up too much and I figured pure white would look pretty crisp.

And so the saga began, spraying the fabric with a water bottle, painting on the diluted white mixture .... And painting. And painting. And painting. When I painted the third coat, I thought I'd finally finished. I had adjusted the recipe so that it was a little thicker and when I went to bed, the couch looked nice and solid white. 

But I woke up to this:

The dry beast had completely soaked up the paint and ugly, speckled mustard creeped through and punched me in the motivation box.

I closed the door and left the beast alone for a good week. 

But, as I mentioned on my Instagram, I was inspired to take one last crack at it. It took a blog post from Mandy Fitzgerald, a high school classmate whom I had a couple of classes with. About a year ago, one of Mandy's Facebook posts caught my eye and I've been following her career as a professional painter and, now, furniture artist ever since. I really admire her commitment to doing what she loves and sharing all the highs and lows of her career. ANYWAYS, Mandy, if you read this, I swear, I'm not stalking you, I'm not obsessed ... Don't think I'm creepy! Just a fan. The point here is that Mandy completed this project that was sitting her studio and I thought maybe I could actually finish my beast of a project, too.

So I decided to change tactics. I knew the other big option for painting fabric is chalk paint, so I went with that. Of course, being the frugal lady I am, I made my own chalk paint as I've done with some other projects. That fourth coat did the trick. 

I touched up the grey, because holy cow, diluted paint is even messier and splattier than regular paint. Then, I replaced the gimp trim with a pop of rich purple. I put the couch on my sun room/convertable screened-in porch thing (still can't decide what to call it), because the fabric feels sort of canvas-like, like outdoor furniture. It should be more durable, and I figure it doesn't have to as quite cozy as living room furniture.

(P.S. That blue dirty astroturf you're getting a flimpse of on the floor of my porch is my second to least favorite flooring in the house ... it's on my list to change ... ideas for easy, cheap indoor/outdoor flooring welcome!)

Also, I wanted to wait to post this until I got cute throw pillows to really style a nice "after" photo, but I had a hard time finding throw pillows that match that I like. Oh well!

Plus, after spending a couple of days with this puppy, I'm actually considering selling it. It's a little too big for my space, but I'm sure someone could use it in a unique way, perhaps as a display piece in a shop, or on their bigger porch ... the possibilities are endless. If you're local and interested, give me a shout!