I Tried 3 Fabric Paints to Transform Secondhand Upholstery and Had a Clear Favorite

If you want to give your upholstered furniture a new look, you might think the only option you have is to do some DIY reupholstering. But not so fast! There are other options, including painting your upholstered pieces. Yes, you can use fabric paint on upholstered furniture!

You might be asking yourself a few questions now. First, how comfortable is a chair painted with fabric paint? How well does it hold up? And just how hard is it to DIY, anyway? I’ve been wondering the same, so I set out to put three different methods to the test by painting three different upholstered pieces.

For this project, I chose three popular products I’d seen other DIYers use online. Each had its own instructions that I followed. I tried to get as close to full coverage as possible with each different process.

I wanted to try out each of my methods on real furniture, not just fabric swatches or throw pillows, so I thrifted two matching footstools to start. Their fabric is a tweedy wool blend without any pattern, and they don’t have any exposed legs or other details. Their starting color — a medium-green shade — was pretty sad looking, but not overly dark.

I also decided to give a hand-me-down chair from my mother-in-law a makeover to make it a lot less pink. This chair had much less upholstered surface area to paint, and was a silky polyester-cotton blend. It had a striped pattern that used two different shades of pink in two different finishes (one more matte, the other more satin-y).

The ratings: I based my ratings on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being low and 5 being high. I determined each rating based on coverage, texture, flexibility (how much “give” the fabric has left), and ease of application.

Method: For this process, I needed to mix latex paint with a textile medium, which turns regular old wall paint into something suitable for soft fabrics.

Supplies Needed:

• Paintbrush
• 1 part latex paint (any color)
• 2 parts textile medium
• Jar for mixing

1. Vacuum or lint roll your upholstery before painting.
2. Brush the paint onto the fabric in generous, even coats.
3. Let one coat dry completely before following up with an additional coat. I used three coats.

How It Went: Coverage was poor — it took three thick coats of paint to achieve the final result. And once it dried, the texture was hard and bendy like a stale taco shell. While the fabric still had some flex to it, it wasn’t comfortable. It almost felt like rough vinyl.

Had I painted this color over a simple white cotton fabric, one coat may have done the trick and been soft enough to still sit on, but I decided to do a lighter color over a darker, thick woven fabric, which could have contributed to my poor results. This might work better on smooth fabrics or on fabrics that aren’t intended for sitting, like curtains or small pieces of upholstery.

One benefit to this method, though, was that you can use any latex paint your heart desires, so the range of colors is basically unlimited. And even though my ottoman didn’t feel very good, it does look adorable!

Overall Verdict: If you want to paint a piece of furniture you plan to use on a daily or even weekly basis, don’t waste your time on this method. It’s uncomfortable and very time-consuming. You could probably reupholster the piece in the same amount of time it takes to paint.

Rating: 2/5

Method: The only thing needed for this method was a can of Simply Spray fabric spray paint.

1. Spot clean and vacuum your upholstery before painting.
2. Shake the can well for at least one minute before spraying.
3. Hold the can at least 8 inches from the surface of the piece and spray in long, continual strokes.
4. Let the first coat dry before starting a second coat. Mine needed two hours.
5. Repeat until none of the original color shows through. For my stool, I used three coats. It could have used a few more because I feel like I can still see a bit of green coming through, but I was fairly satisfied with the results.

How It Went: Coverage was very thin, and I needed to build up the layers to get a consistent look. Just like with regular spray paint, I ended up needing more paint than I thought (bring home at least one extra can). I used an entire can on my stool and would have liked to give it two to three more coats.

One thing that I did like was that the texture did stay quite soft. The fabric feels just as flexible after painting as it did before. Unfortunately, it left behind a weird oily, filmy look on my stool. Even though the paint is completely dry and permanent, it looks as if it could rub off on me if I sit on it. This could have everything to do with the fabric content (wool blend).

When it comes to application, it’s important to shake the can well and often. My can kept spurting out droplets that would land on the fabric that I would have to blend in with a brush. I found this process to be really messy.

Overall Verdict: This was a messy way to change the look of the fabric and required a lot of coats to get an even look. The result feels pretty soft, though, and still looks like fabric. Keep in mind that you’ll need more cans than you think and that you’ll have to choose a color at least one shade darker than the fabric you’re painting.

Rating: 3/5

Method: The only thing you’ll need is a can of Simply Spray Soft Fabric Spray Paint. Garbage bags and painter’s tape can help with covering areas you don’t want to paint.

1. Start by taping off all areas surrounding the fabric. If you are doing this, just go ahead and tape/cover everything you don’t want paint on. The sprayer on the can is very wide, and I ended up getting blue splatters everywhere.
2. After you’ve shaken the can for a solid minute (don’t skip this very important step, it’s necessary!), start spraying off to the side of the fabric and then move the paint around onto the fabric in small circles, 8 inches away from the surface of the fabric. Don’t let up on the trigger until you’ve moved the paint back off the fabric. The paint will sputter, and you’ll get little splatter marks on your fabric if you start and stop over the fabric.
3. Wait until the paint dries completely to add another coat.
4. After the paint has dried completely on both the fabric and the tape, you can remove it.

How It Went: The coverage was pretty decent. The paint still does absorb into the fabric, but since this fabric was not as dense as the tweedy wool of the ottomans, the paint seemed to go a long way. I only had to apply two coats to get the color I was looking for.

Even after painting a couple of coats, the texture stayed soft and the fabric felt only a little thicker than it did before painting.

The bad news: This particular fabric paint is hard to find after being discontinued, though there are still some available for purchase on Etsy.

Overall Verdict: I think the combination of using this paint on a lightweight, thin fabric (a polyester blend) and on an overall smaller surface area was really what made it a success. I’m disappointed that it’s so hard to find now, but even for other fabric spray paints, the lesson remains the same: A smoother, lighter-weight fabric in a light color will give you better results.

Rating: 4/5

The best method I tried was the Simply Spray Soft Fabric Paint, since the finish of it felt the closest to real fabric. But the upholstery paint went on pretty evenly, too. The worst method in my experience is the combo of latex paint and fabric medium, since the result is stiff and uncomfortable.

Painting upholstery is not a project I’d recommend unless you’re working with a piece of furniture that will otherwise need to be tossed, donated, or reupholstered — the process is messy, and even with the best products, the results are still variable. But if you’re working with a thrifted piece of furniture, or an old hand-me-down, it’s a great way to give it a fresh life.

With any paint that you brush on, you’re likely going to see some stiffness to the fabric. And with sprays, you have to make sure to do lots of light passes so that you don’t wind up with blotchy fabric. If you’re not used to spray painting, it’s very likely you’ll have heavier spots and thinner spots where the old fabric shows through. 

I think using the fabric medium and paint method would be perfect for adding designs to your fabric, like a small block print. But all-over paint is ultimately going to feel like you’re sitting on a slick painted surface, not a soft fabric surface. It’s best suited for items that aren’t going to get a lot of wear and tear.