Painting a Couch

My photographer friend was seeking an older Victorian couch for her outdoor photo shoots.  She messaged me that she found this one:

Beautiful isn't it?  Seriously I love the detail on these old couches but the fabric is typically, well, dated.  Knowing that she was going to be using this beauty for pictures in the woods, I told her it probably wasn't worth the investment for new upholstery fabric and a professional to reupholster it for her, and the fabric itself was in good shape. Like most things in my world, I told her that this could be made beautiful again with a little bit of paint, and I'm not talking on the wood!
My friend wanted a light neutral color, but with all of the red stripes on the existing fabric I knew this wouldn't be possible.  We settled for a medium gray color and gave the couch a good vacuuming.  The supply list for this project is short and includes the following items:

Spray bottle filled with water

Paint brush

Small detail paint brush

Chalk style paint

220 grit sandpaper

The fabric needs to be damp in order to allow to allow the paint to fully be absorbed. Spray the fabric with water and keep the spray bottle handy so that as you are painting you can spray as needed. Then just grab a paint brush and paint and start painting!  It will probably take two coats, here is the couch with just one coat of paint.

You can see some of the stripes still showing through.  After one coat of paint is applied, allow to dry.  The fabric will be a little bit stiff, so use sandpaper to smooth it out.  The fabric will always be stiffer than what it was initially, so keep that in mind.

Here is an in progress shot.  The fabric looks damp in some areas while the paint is drying.

Two coats of chalk paint gave very good coverage.  You can still see the texture of the original fabric, but the colors are now covered with fresh paint.

Now without further ado, here is what it looks like now!  Even more beautiful and easy for anyone to do.  Just two coats of paint with sanding after each coat. No sealer is necessary.

Here is the same couch set up and ready for Christmas pictures at a tree farm.  I think the new color looks great!

What do you think?  Do you like how it turned out?  Are you brave enough to paint fabric?
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