Wet & Forget Outdoor and virtually any other surface you can think of! Wet & Forget Outdoor Ready-To-Use Wet & Forget Shower * Require a wipe down before next use. Wet & Forget Shower is not recommended for use on natural marble. Test in an inconspicuous area if you have dark tiles and hard water to avoid highlighting calcium deposits. Wet & Forget Indoor What surfaces can you use W&F Indoor on? For Use On Hard, Non-Porous Surfaces: Wet & Forget Indoor Mold+Mildew Disinfectant Cleaner can also be used on: Wet & Forget has a solution for every household cleaning need. Explore the world of Wet & Forget. A few weeks ago. . . before I even knew I would have this brand new blog. . . I am going to share this post again, here on my new blog, as this is a subject dear to my heart. After recently discovering the incredible look of chalk painted furniture, and the simple process of creating it, I can’t wait to share this tidbit far and wide! Painting furniture is a quick and easy way to make a “needs a little love” piece look fabulous.
My friends who spend time at my loft (photos above) know that I have a thing for painted furniture. This “thing” happened a few years ago when I discovered Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I was shopping for two small tables at an antique store when I asked the shop owner her opinion on painting old pieces. She immediately directed me to Purple Pear, a local and online shop that sells British based Annie Sloan paint and wax. For those of you who have not seen chalk painted furniture pieces, I will have to tell you that there is something very European looking about it, similar to milk paint. The chalk paint is often distressed to give it a vintage feel, then finished by rubbing a soft wax over the painted surface. Not only does the wax finish look luxurious and velvety, but it is so simple to do, wears very well and you can paint over it any time you like. An extra perk is that this paint is low VOC and is manufactured in both Europe and US. My home now showcases 9 Annie Sloan chalk painted furniture pieces, each picked up at a flea market, second hand or antique store and every one needing some love.
The above images are samples of those pieces, the photo of the nesting tables being that first antique shop find. As you can see, go-to colors are the Old White and Graphite, which has a blue undertone. I even used the white chalk paint to cover the resin horse after I repaired his missing ears. I do have a can of Antibes Green and Provence teal that are waiting for the right project which I will share with you. For this tutorial below, I am going to repaint this little rattan and wood chair. I am using the Old White Chalk Paint, Clear Soft Wax, sand paper, a paint brush and an old rag. Get inspired then go give some love to your furniture! This download requires a membership. Tell me more › This video is for members only. You are now a premium member and have access to exclusive content and project downloads. We're glad to have you on board! Go to My Craft Room › Get the downloads for this project with a membership. Save posts to your craft room with the Lia Griffith membership.
Tell me more ›If you would have asked me a year ago if painting a couch would be in my near future I probably would have responded, Please? (Which is a polite/strange way people from Cincinnati ask others to repeat themselves, aka What?) Having ruined lots of clothes with paint splatters I knew paint and fabric was not a good combination. In 2012 I came across a great blog where I learned that upholstery can be painted by mixing paint medium and latex paint. So, when making over my family room ottoman I used fabric on the top and paint on the bottom! Then 2 years went by and all of a sudden I began to spot several pins on Pinterest about painting upholstery, especially upholstered chairs. I think I read every single one of them because I was so in awe of the idea (even though I had already done it with my ottoman it was not on a part you would sit on). About a month ago a friend texted me saying she was getting rid of her brown couch in their playroom and would I want to work some DIY magic on it.
The structure was good and it was SO comfortable but the fabric had a couple of stains and I wasn’t a fan of the brown color. So did I really need another couch or another DIY project for that matter??The green/tan couch in our living room is a sleeper sofa and was my first (and I think only) Craigslist mistake. In the picture on the listing it looked tan and it looked super nice for a sleeper couch (I’ve seen way too many velvet floral sleeper sofas in my time). I talked the guy down to selling it for $100 and rented a uhaul for $20 to pick it up and transport it. My husband and I showed up with the uhaul at his apartment only for me to realize it was definitely more green than tan. I mumbled something to my husband like, UMMM, I didn’t realize it was green and he gave me a look like you’ve gotta be kidding me! Needless to say the green couch came home and I’ve made it work. Go see the Craigslist item in person before renting a uhaul!:-) So back to why I would need another couch.
We are co-hosting a family reunion this year and I liked the idea of the green sleeper sofa being in the basement where overnight guests could have more privacy and room. I decided the free brown couch would be a very fortunate opportunity to getting the green couch downstairs and to trying out this painting upholstery you actually sit on thang (wow that was a mouthful)! When researching I came across two main methods of painting upholstery. First, use fabric medium with latex paint or second, use chalk paint. I read that fabric medium can get expensive when doing large pieces so I opted for the chalk paint method (I calculated that I would have needed over $60 worth of fabric medium plus the latex paint). You may be thinking but, Tamara, chalk paint is expensive too, right? You are right it is and even though Americana chalk is so much cheaper it still would have cost too much to do a whole couch. So I made my own chalk paint! For this I did some more research and discovered that the consensus among DIY-ers is that the calcium carbonate recipe is the best.
After trying out lots of recipes I came up with my own recipe that used less calcium carbonate but enough to do an awesome job. Here is the recipe (feel free to pin it for later)! But before going on, are you ready to see some before and afters?:-) The lighting in the photos is not great because it’s in our basement where there is no natural light and lots of fluorescent lighting. I can’t wait to get the couch upstairs to the living room (anyone want to come over and help bring the huge, heavy sleeper sofa downstairs)??:-) So here is the Step by Step process I took to paint the couch. First, I removed the couch skirt from the bottom of the couch for a more streamlined appearance. It was attached by staples so I just used a pair of pliers to pull the skirt off. In a bucket I started by adding 4 cups of latex paint in a flat finish (color is Behr Slate Gray), 1 cup of calcium carbonate (I bought mine here off of Amazon–it was a good price and came quickly) and 1/2 cup of water.
I filled an empty spray bottle with water and began spraying the down the couch. Don’t soak it just wet it down. For the brush I used the Zibra square detail and molding option. It held up beautifully to all the abuse this project renders. You can also use a large, round, stenciling brush. I took all the cushions off the couch, sprayed it down in sections and then painted the couch quickly in circular motions. A link to a helpful video demonstration of this process can be found here. In this photo sequence you can see the step by step progress. Next I worked on the cushions. Third Coat (I had to do a 4th coat in some areas as shown by the arrows) Once it is all painted and dry it is time to sand and sand and sand some more. I went through about 3 packs of sandpaper plus a sanding block. Sanding is what gets the fabric to not feel rough and prickly. Make sure to wipe away the dust that the sanding creates (I vacuumed the cushions to get the dust off).
I had read that some people used a clear wax to try and soften up the fabric. I tested this out in some areas but didn’t find it helpful. Now even though the sanding takes the roughness away, the material will still be stiffer than most upholstered furniture. I had heard people compare it to the stiffness of outside furniture and I think that is a great comparison. The couch is still comfortable to me but would I rub my bare body all over it, probably not!:-) Our living room isn’t a high traffic room so it’s not an issue to me. If you don’t want a somewhat stiff couch I would suggest reupholstering the cushions. You could take the new material for the cushions to Home Depot or Sherwin William’s paint desk and ask them to color match the material. Then you could paint the frame of the couch but have the cushions be totally normal (not outdoor fabric) feeling. The price to paint the couch was great! Calcium Carbonate-$16 (I bought 2 bags and use 1 1/2)