How To {Unprofessionally} Paint Fabric And Re-upholster Chairs

 Guten Tag! Germany is definitely feeling Fall-ish (more like a California winter) this past week.... I must say, I am making the best of it with hearty stews, homemade bread and crumb cake, walks through the woods, cozy coffee dates with friends, farmers' markets and lots of candle-lit movie nights. I am super thrilled, because my home is pretty much done. Before I can do the room reveals though, I am going to show you project by project how we completed our home in the most frugal way possible. Getting to explore the world and trying new things is our top financial priority at the moment. 

Today, I am going to show you how I simply re-upholstered our kitchen chairs. This table and chair set was a hand-me-down of a hand-me-down of a  hand-me-down. I love free! The chairs used to have awful green, plaid, stained seats that I recovered a few years ago in an even more awful zebra print. Heck, that was when I was in my sassy, bachelorette days.

I couldn't find a fabric that I liked in my price range, so, I decided to make my own. I stumbled across a GIANT piece of fabric that my grandma gave me a few years ago. I am pretty sure it was an old table cloth...regardless, it's a heavy duty fabric that is PERFECT for seat cushions. I mixed some of this "FABRIC MEDIUM" that I found out about from the awesome blog View Along The Way. Check out her gorgeous painted, striped curtains.

I actually just mixed this with extra wall paint that I had.

I got a giant foam stamp for 10 euro from the German craft store. I stamped away on my large piece of fabric. I wanted the "look" to be hand painted and imperfect...and welp, that's what I got...ahh ha! Once your paint dries...

You are going to want to lay your cushions (also face down) on your fabric. Cut around your cushions leaving an extra 2-3 inches of fabric for wrapping and stapling. 

In the above picture, check out my majestic hot gluing skills. That was back when I could only afford a glue gun and some value menu tacos, (like, a month ago!)...seriously though, that glue job lasted quite a few years... I am pretty surprised myself. I removed the zebra fabric so it wouldn't show through the white.

Here is the end product!

 I LOVE IT! I want to use this pattern all over my house!

By the way this part of the kitchen used to be this color....

To see more before pictures of the kitchen click here!

We hung our giant cafe-style chalkboard on the wall for our menu! I use it every day! Next to the table is a little red fireplace... it's quite cozy! For under 15 euros, my free dining set got a completely new look!

What projects are you working on?

Until next time,