I’ve painted fabric before.

I painted the stripe pattern and French stencil on the upholstery of this settee.

I stenciled the script on this seat.

And, last summer I full on painted a chair. It looked awesome!

So, I thought I’d give a couch a try.

If I could paint a chair, why not a couch?

Enter this cute little wood framed love seat. I loved everything about this sofa. The ruffle on the bottom. The wood detailing on the top and the arms. Everything except for the dingy blue fabric.

I started painting it.

And, I painted more…

…and more…

…and more. Really, this took [freaking] FOREVER!

Can you tell how it is slightly discolered around it?Well, that was me thinking that if I watered the paint way down, it would go further. Instead, it just completely soaked into the material.

I started with Old Ochre as my color of choice.

But, after two full cans, I ran out of paint. So, I went to Old White. I keep between 12 and 20 cans in stock so knew I wouldn’t run out.

Here’s the scoop…this project was AWFUL! Awful in the “I was on the verge of screaming and running out of the store pulling my hair out” kind of awful. It took at least a week to finish and consumed…wait for it…six full cans of paint! At $38.95 per quart…well…you can do the math.

This is my two cents on why I think it was such a pain to paint. 1. The fabric was too soft and a wider cotton weave. The other fabrics I’ve painted have been tighter…I don’t know how else to explain it. But, the paint just soaked into this fabric. 2. The ruffles and bunched fabric on the back nearly did me in. Too many nooks and crannies to work the paint into. 3. And, it took two coats. So, not only did I have to endure painting it once (by then I was in too deep to just give up) I had to paint the bloody thing twice.

Oh yeah…after pictures?

Cute, right?

Try sitting on it! HA!

Just make sure you are wearing pants and no part of your skin makes contact. It’s quite…itchy…like 60 grit sandpaper itchy.

I painted the wood frame in French Linen.

This would look so cute as a photo prop. No one would ever have to know it’s painted!

The reason I classify this as an epic fail is because it (in my opinion) is not a buyable product. I highly doubt I will be able to sell this for even half of the cost that went into “fixing it up.”

But, at least I have a nice place to cozy up with my girls and read a story while we are hanging in the store. So, there’s a plus to everything!