Upcycling and Photography Props – The Vintage Love Seat
Have you ever found an awesome piece of furniture but hated the upholstery? I found an apricot and brown love seat, not my favorite colors, but I could not pass up this piece when I found it a thrift shop. Though I did have one client that fell in love with it and used it for her session, this piece sat in a corner of the studio mostly unused. With space a premium I had to make a choice to give it a face-lift or let it go.
The cost to take it to a professional to be reupholstered was more than I wanted to invest. This meant it was time to do some research and try something new. Being a lifelong DIY lover, I’m usually ready to accept a challenge when it comes to makeovers, but I’ve never painted fabric.
I was a bit nervous, but I had little to lose and so much to gain so I set to work.
Here is what the couch looked like when I bought it. It was usable with a couple small discolored spots, but didn’t really work well as a photo prop.
My first step was to decide how I wanted to use this in the future.
I decided I wanted a color that would show well on white or black backdrops but not compete with whatever color my clients might be wearing. So my decision was pewter grey fabric and a darker grey, almost black for the wood. After some research, I found that it was possible to paint fabric with a mix of acrylic paint, fabric medium and water. You can paint almost any fabric, including velvet, by creating the right mix of paint, medium and water. There are lots of great sites on-line you can reference to find the right mix for your type of fabric.
I purchased Martha Stewart Fabric Medium from Amazon (link) and the acrylic paint at the local Walmart. I also used a small can of semi-gloss paint for the trim. Below is a list of the supplies used.
To paint the fabric:
4 @ 6fl oz. bottles of Martha Stewart Crafts Tintable Fabric Medium
4 @ 8 fl oz. Matte Acrylic Paint
32 ounces of water
1 container to mix ingredients in
1 two inch paint brush
small water color paint brushes
To paint the trim:
1 can semi-gloss paint (29 fl oz)
1 one inch paint brush
small water color paint brushes
Each batch of fabric paint was a mix of one bottle fabric medium, one bottle acrylic paint and about 8 ounces of water. The first coat is soaked up very quickly by the fabric and takes the longest to dry. As you can see here, with only one coat, the old color still shows through but there was no going back.
Depending on how quickly things dry, you may have to wait overnight before the second coat, but it was an 80+ degree summer day when I was painting and I was able to do two coats in one day. Here is the love seat end of day one.
Two coats didn’t quite give the color I wanted so I painted on a third coat and then painted the trim with a “Noir” black semi-gloss paint.
Here is the final result
The paint did make the fabric much stiffer and gives it the feeling of canvas cushions but overall, as this is for prop use, I wasn’t too concerned. It is still comfortable to sit on, but more difficult to slide over the seat when positioning someone for a shot.
Here is shot from a recent photo session where I used the love seat and I love the neutral base it gives to the image.
I can envision this being used much more often and may even work on putting together a Gothic themed shoot specifically using this piece.
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