Fabric Paint | It's Great To Be Home

Pimp Your Piping

Remember this guy that looked so very sad? Well, now he’s had a makeover and he’s ready to strut his stuff. Take a look!

Can you figure out what’s different? Here’s the “before” pic to give you a frame of reference:

That’s right – I painted the piping!

To me, the chocolate brown piping gives this formerly frumpy chair a bit more structure and sophistication – and wow, was this change cheap! For only about $4, here’s how I gave this chair a major makeover:

1. Pick your victim. In my case, this slipcovered Ikea Ektorp armchair was the obvious choice – the all-white slipcover was pretty blah, and the oversized/overstuffed nature of the chair made it look like a big marshmallow. Bottom line – you’ll get the biggest impact with a piece of upholstery that has piping and could benefit from a little definition. (Of course, this same technique could be used to add pizazz to just about anything you want to tackle.)

2. Assemble your supplies. For this project, you need:

~ fabric paint in your color of choice (you really don’t need that much, a single paint tube should do the trick)

* Note: I used fabric paint because I wanted to be able to wash my slipcovers without washing away my hard work. If you’re painting upholstered pieces that don’t have removable covers, you could probably just use regular craft paint to achieve the same result, but without the washability factor.

~ 1 craft brush

~ small strips of stiff cardboard (I just cut up a few advertisements that I got in the mail)

2. Set up shop. Although this project is cheap and easy, it is pretty time-consuming. Plan on spending at least a few evenings in front of the TV working on painting your piping. Maybe more than a few evenings if you’re like me and get distracted easily!

3. Paint away. I thought the easiest way to tackle the piping was to leave the slipcover on the cushions and chair frame – this kept the slipcover from being too floppy and hard to work with. For the cushions, I just hauled them over to the couch, but for the chair frame I sat on the floor in front of it and painted away. As for technique, this is where your strips of cardboard come into play – I wedged the cardboard between the piping and the cushion fabric so that the cardboard formed a barrier – this let me paint somewhat sloppily without worrying about getting the paint onto the fabric of the cushion.

That’s it! I’m really happy with how this project turned out – this is a chair that I’ve had for 7 years that has never really worked in any of my rooms, but now I feel like it could work anywhere!

The new chocolate brown and off-white color scheme meshes with every room in our house, and it also works with all of our fun pillows and accessories – I could see playing musical rooms with this guy as we switch up furniture arrangements throughout the house.

How about you guys – would you ever consider pimping your piping?

P.S. Thanks to everyone that has already played along and filled out the 2010 IGTBH Online Survey! I plan on leaving it up until Wednesday and then tabulating the results and hopefully posting them before the end of the week. Click here if you want to put in your 2 cents while you still can!

P.P.S. Today is my birthday!! This is the last year before I turn the big 3-0, and I’m excited to see what lies ahead in this last year of my 20s. And thanks for all of the birthday wishes I’ve already received, you guys have put a big smile on my face!

This post is shared with A Soft Place to Land, Reinvented, Between Naps on the Porch, It’s So Very Cheri, The Girl Creative, and The DIY Show Off.

A Dash Of Doily

“Doily” is my favorite word – is that weird? Say it a few times and I think you’ll become a fan, too – doily, doily, doily, doily . . . or maybe it’s just me?

Anyhoo, when I first ran across this project I just knew I had to try it – anything that cute that involves a doily is right up my alley.

A few weeks before Christmas I assembled all the goodies I needed:

~ canvas totes (they range from $3 – $9 at Michaels, depending on how fancy you want to get – I went for the middle-of-the-road $6 ones)

~ fabric paint in the color(s) of your choice (use fabric paint instead of craft paint because it’s washable)

~ spray adhesive

~ doilies in the sizes and shapes of your choice (I found them in the cake decorating aisle at Michaels)

~ foam brush

~ exacto knife

~ self-healing mat or cutting board

~ typing paper & printer

My plan was to make 4 totes, one for each member of our fun family foursome – because of that, I grabbed 4 different colors of fabric paint, 4 totes and an array of doilies so that each chickie could have a slightly different tote. Once all the goodies were gathered, I got to work!

1. Wash & iron the totes. Some bags come pre-washed and shrunk, but I didn’t want to run the risk of my fabric paint peeling off because of some random residue on the totes. The ironing was necessary because those babies get seriously wrinkled!

2. Pick your poison. This is the part where you play with the doilies and arrange them on the totes in a variety of designs until you find the design that you like the best. I ultimately used a 10″ doily on mine with an “L” in the center, a 10″ and 8″ doily with an “M” for my aunt, and 16″ rectangle doilies for my mom and sister (all in different arrangements).

3. Spray and paint. You may be tempted to skip the spray adhesive, but let me warn you . . . don’t. The detail in the doilies is so fine that the paint will definitely seep under the doily and ruin all your beautiful work if you don’t secure those puppies with a liberal dose of spray adhesive. And the foam brush can also cause the paint to get a little, well, foamy, so keep an eye on how things are going.

4. Peel and admire. Isn’t it crazy how a doily can wind up looking so cool? And don’t fret if a little bit of the doily gets stuck to the tote – just grab a pair of tweezers and go to town.

5. Be exacting. Now that your doily has been perfectly transferred onto the tote, it’s time to paint on the initial, name, monogram, or whatever you’ve chosen. I just printed out the names in different fonts on regular typing paper, then followed the lines of the letters with an exacto knife.

Be sure to hold onto any closed letters (like the a, o and e above) so that you can use them as a guide to fill in the gaps.

6. Behold your awesome creation. These totes are really just too cute, don’t you think? I gave the totes to my mom, aunt and sister for Christmas and the plan is for us to use them on our future jaunts. I can’t wait!

In the meantime, my tote is great for holding my library books and for trips to the grocery store.