Transforming your fabric upholstered furniture

Transforming Tired and Worn Furniture

When a much-loved piece of furniture is starting to look rather worn and dated, it makes a lot of sense to upcycle rather than invest in something new. Our FabriCoat Fabric Paint is perfect for this as you can quickly and easily change the colour of the fabric.

In this blog, we look at the process involved in changing the colour of a velvet upholstered dressing table stool from a dusty pink colour to a ‘Hawaiian Blue’. There are many different colours to choose from in our FabriCoat Fabric Paint range, so there is a colour to suit everyone. We recommend that the fabric you are changing should be the same colour or lighter than the colour you are applying.

Before you start, get prepared and make sure you order everything you require to start the job. To do this you could order our Fabric Paint Kit which contains the following products that you will need:

• Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner
• Carpet & Upholstery Protector
• FabriCoat Fabric Paint
• Paint Brush
• Cleaning Brush
• Microfibre Cloth

Step 1: Clean the Fabric

Prior to starting to paint any fabric, the upholstery should be cleaned.

Firstly, vacuum the fabric to remove any dirt and dust particles. Then, use our Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner, Cleaning Brush and Microfibre Cloth to clean the fabric. Spray the surface until it is slightly damp then agitate it with the Cleaning Brush and allow to dwell. As it dwells, the dirt and stain molecules that have latched onto the fibres will loosen – and these can be gently wiped off with a clean Microfibre Cloth. Make sure the fabric is completely dry before moving onto the next step.

Step 2: Paint the Fabric

Before painting the fabric, you should dampen the fabric with water. Then pour your selected paint colour into a bowl and use a Paint Brush to apply.

You will find that the FabriCoat Fabric Paint instantly soaks into the fabric and changes its colour. Always start with the hard-to-reach areas first and make sure you use the brush to get deep into any folds in the fabric.

Apply one coat this way and leave to dry for at least one hour.

In this scenario, because the fabric was velvet and had a pile, it felt slightly rough due to the fibres sticking together. To soften the fibres, brush the pile in all directions with our Cleaning Brush. It also means that the brushing process will remove any excess fabric paint that didn’t soak in properly.

Velvet is a very absorbent fabric, and you will always need to apply a second (and possibly third) coat of fabric paint in the exact same way as the first. We then left the paint to dry naturally overnight.

Step 3: Protect the Fabric

Once the paint is dry and you are satisfied that you have covered all the old colour, it is time to protect your fabric from future stains and spills. To do this, you should use our Carpet & Upholstery Protector.

Our fabric protector works by soaking into each individual fibre and creating an invisible, hydrophobic coating which repels all oil and water-based stains without changing the look or feel of the material. Simply shake the bottle and then spray liberally onto the fabric to dampen it, and then allow to dry. It is then ready for use.

And you are done and ready to start on the next project!

Feeling Inspired?

To find out more about FabriCoat and how it can transform your upholstered furniture, car seats, clothes, lampshades and more – check out our videos and take a look at some of the Trustpilot reviews with images at the base of the FabriCoat Fabric Paint page. We particularly love this recent one, where a customer changed the colour of her sofa from a pale grey to Olive using FabriCoat: