It Was Free...

One of the many things I love about the town I live in is the wide availability of second-hand thrifty goodness. We have at least a dozen thrift shops, yard sales galore in the warm weather months and a general attitude of waste-not-want-not permeating the community. And every once in a while, I'll be driving along and spot something really awesome sitting on the curb with a sign that says:

Raise your hand if you would have stopped the car. Yup. My excitement over the chair dulled slightly, however, when after two thorough vacuumings, three borax/baking soda/ Shout scrub-downs and 48 hours of sun-bleaching it still looked like this:

(The color in this shot is more accurate than the first one.)

I am not a re-upholsterer, nor can I afford a re-upholsterer. I have made several slipcovers in my day, but I didn't want to slipcover this one--the wood is one of the coolest features of the chair. But I also didn't want to just put it back on the curb. So I thought...and I thought...

Hmmm...the stains are the main problem...there really aren't any tears in the upholstery... (thought I)...

And I really like the texture of the fabric...if I could just somehow cover up the stains...eureka!
Okay, I didn't actually shout 'eureka' but you get the idea. I got an idea: spray paint.

Now, hang on, there, I know what you're thinking. She spray painted the chair? You might even be having flashbacks of the horrendous Trading- Spaces- Crazy- Hilde-Painted-Chair incident as did my friend Sandi when I told her. But I did my research. And by that I mean I Googled it. And what I learned was that there are certain types of spray paint made by Krylon that are actually formulated for multi-surface use including fabric. Yup. I decided to try it. After all, the chair was free.

So ten bucks worth of Krylon later:

Look at my pretty chair!

Squeezed into my art corner "studio"; perfect for quiet nights with a drawing board on my lap.

I used Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Brushed Metallic Champagne Nouveau on the fabric and, because the color was so similar to the original fabric, a light coating did the trick. No painted fabric crunch.

And Krylon Indoor/Outdoor High Gloss Cherry Red for the wood. Love it.

And it was free! So, how about you? have you ever spray painted something unorthodox or made something fabulous out of something found? Share in the comments!