Painted Fabric

Details about all the Pillows in my Family Room :)

January 11, 2013 By Stacy 42 Comments

If you are wondering about if I sell the “Little Houses” pillow, please read this updated post (click on the highlighted text link).

I think it is ironic that the things I put off until last (the pillows) are the first thing I am sharing from my family room reveal. I do not enjoy sewing as much as I do using power tools. In fact, the only way I survive without yelling at the sewing machine is I pretend it is just another power tool. Because really, it is.

I have a problem. I envision a room before I even start and I know exactly how I want the room to look right down to the fabric. Problem is, most of the fabrics I have invented in my head and then I can’t find it in real life. I have been painting fabric for about 8 years now. If I can’t find what I want, I create it myself!

The pillow in the back came from ……… Walmart! I know, I am still shocked too. I have never bought a pillow from there before but I was walking by I saw this one and it was the perfect color and had great texture. The one with words on it, I made. It is kind of my favorite :)

When I was growing up my dad listened to country music. I still love it. There are so many memories of bouncing around in his dusty old truck listening to the old songs like Statler Brothers, Oak Ridge Boys, George Straight, and Randy Travis. I remember one song that stuck with me. Remember I have said many times in the past that I was an odd child. I was, even at a young age, always thinking about my future house. I REALLY wanted to live in a small cottage style home. The song that I loved was called Little Houses by Doug Stone. I painted the words to the chorus on to a pillow because it is how I feel about my little house.

I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the words in vinyl. The vinyl is sticky on the back so it sticks to the fabric while I paint. Picking off all the “insides” of the letter took what seemed like forever. But it was worth it :)

I used fabric ink because I had some on hand from another past project. But paint with fabric paint medium works well too. The ink takes longer to dry so make sure it is really dry before taking the vinyl off or it will smudge.

Moving on the the couch pillows……You would think that a bold yellow striped fabric would be easy to find. But it wasn’t. I used painters tape, paint, and fabric paint medium (you can buy it at crafts stores by all the other craft paint).

I wanted to find a canvas that was a color close to the wall color. That was nearly impossible too. So I bought white canvas fabric and soaked it in very watered down paint (the same paint I painted the walls with). I squeezed the water paint out, laid them flat on a tarp, and after they dried I washed them in the washing machine. Unlike with dyes, you don’t have to wash it all by itself. If the paint is all dry it won’t bleed on to anything else in the wash. I have done this before and talked about it when I did my office pillows. I love how it looks faded on some spots where the paint didn’t absorbs as much. It looks worn, which for me is perfect!

I added a wood button (one on each side) to the canvas pillow. We had a tree fall down in a giant wind storm this past summer and it broke my heart. I vowed to use as much of it as I could so it wouldn’t go to waste.

I cut a tree branch on my miter saw. I drilled two holes and then soaked it in polyurethane. It was very porous so I knew that brushing it on wouldn’t be enough. Then after it soaked for a few minutes I dabbed off any excess polyurethane and let it dry.

The pillow in the middle is made out of yellow ticking fabric. I was able to find it online. I used the same fabric to cover the bench on the opposite side of the room.

The pillows on the crate I adore! The Moroccan patterned pillow came from Pottery Barn. You know when all the stars align and you find exactly what you want AND it is on mega clearance? THAT is what happened with this awesome pillow.

The key pillow I also make using my Silhouette and fabric ink.

I LOVE a big houndstooth. So I new I wanted a pillow with that pattern.

I couldn’t find a graphic yellow houndstooth fabric so I again turned to my Silhouette machine.

It was obviously more work to make all these custom pillows. I would have rather just bought all of them instead of just two of them. But I am picky and I know what I want. Even though I dislike sewing, I am glad I did it because the pillows are exactly what I wanted :)

Linked up at Skip to my Lou

Filed Under: Decorating, Painted Fabric, Painting, Projects 42 Comments

Stenciled Lamp Shade

February 2, 2012 By Stacy 13 Comments

I love customizing lamp shades! Whether you use paint, fabric, ribbon or other trims it is a cheap way to make a big impact. Here is my stenciled lamp shade from my hallway I posted about on Monday.

It started out as a JARA lamp shade from IKEA. This is an 18 inch but they have other sizes. I love this shade because the inside flips around depending on how you are going to use it ( hang it or put it on a lamp). Very smart!

This lamp shade is a bright white. I wanted it to match the hallway better so I sprayed it with Krylon’s Almond spray paint. I only recommend painting a shade that is smooth like this one. Now, it is tricky when you paint something that will have light going through it. It needs to be super even or it will look terrible and patchy when you turn the light on. I sprayed a couple thin layers and then hung it and turned on the light. I VERY lightly penciled around the parts that needed more paint and then sprayed it again. It will look hairy when you are done spray painting. The little fibers suddenly show because of the paint. Just take some fine grit sand paper and sand the lamp shade.

As far as the stenciling, I was going to use the same stencil that I used on my ceiling in my bedroom but I could not find it. So I used my Silhouette machine to cut this shape out of vinyl. I was able to stick the vinyl right on the shade and then I used a foam brush to apply the paint. I sprayed some of Rust-Oleum’s Heirloom White on some paper and then got it color matched at Home depot so I could have a quart of regular paint in that color. That is how I painted all the doors, trim and cabinets in my house. I was going to cover the whole shade in the damask pattern but when I got all around the center I decided I really like the look. So I kept it that way :)

This is what the light fixture looked like in my hallway before I added the shade. It is original to the house and very charming. But it seemed pretty small up on the ceiling. I love that you can still see this light fixture when you walk in the hall even though there is a shade on it.

Filed Under: Decorating, Painted Fabric, Painting, Projects, Tutorials 13 Comments

Clock Pillow

December 29, 2011 By Stacy 6 Comments

I had this idea quite awhile ago but never got around to it. I finally started to make this and it dawned on me that it goes well with New Years! That certainly wasn’t why I made this, but you have to admit the timing is a great coincidence :)

I grew up with a mother who collected antiques. And she REALLY LOVED clocks. I don’t have any idea how many we had in our home growing up. All I know is that when we had sleep overs, our friends had a hard time sleeping because they were not use to the chorus of chimes every hour.

I inherited my mothers love of clocks and I thought a clock pillow would be fun and a reminder of my mother and her many clocks :)

I used some fabric I had left over from another project and some fabric ink from Silhouette. They have stencil vinyl that you use in your Silhouette machine to cut out a shape that you want. Then using a foam brush or sponge, you dab the ink on. Then VOILA! You have a custom pillow :) If you do not have a Silhouette you could always use an exacto knife (razor blade). I did that for years before I ever got my machine.

Silhouette sent me this starter kit which has everything you need. It has:

* 3 feet of see through stencil vinyl

* 3 feet of transfer tape

* 2 oz bottle of fabric ink

* foam brush

* sponge

* mixing tray

*hook tool

* 10 free designs

*idea/instruction book

Silhouette is offering my readers a deal on the CAMEO and the Fabric Ink Starter Kit. You can get both for $299.00. Just use the code HOUSEWIFE at checkout! You will need to add both the CAMEO and the Fabric Ink Starter Kit to your cart first :) So if you didn’t get one of these bad boys for Christmas, you still have a chance to get one PLUS the ink to play around with.

If you already have a Silhouette machine and you just want the Fabric Ink, Use the same code (HOUSEWIFE) and get 20% off the starter kit!!!

This promo only lasts until January 5th and they have a limited amount of CAMEOS set aside for this sale, so if you are thinking about it then I would hurry.

Filed Under: Painted Fabric, Painting, Projects 6 Comments

Painting Pillows

December 22, 2011 By Stacy 6 Comments

Here are the pillows I made for the bench in my office. I love pillows! But I dislike sewing. I am sewing challenged…..So I left these pillows until last. I went against all my mother taught me. “Do the things you like the least FIRST and save the things you love for last.” Great advice but I totally did the opposite :) Pillows are basically the only thing I know how to sew.

One of the reasons I don’t like to sew is I have a hard time finding fabric that I want. It is totally my fault. I get an idea in my head and I HAVE to have it that way. I am willing to settle for something close, but I would rather have it just that way I want it. I couldn’t find anything close to the color and pattern I wanted for these pillows so I painted all but one :)

Remember when my hallway looked like this? For all of about 1 week! Well it didn’t match the rest of my house but I did love the pattern and color. So in memory of my hallway, I used the same stencil (Alessa Scroll)and same color for one of the pillows.

For the off-white (dare I say ruffly?………the tom boy in me just shuddered :P) pillow in the front I used an old shirt. I could never pull the gathered thing off on my own so I cut up a shirt from my closet. It was a bright white so I “dyed” it using paint (I will explain that in a sec). Sorry for the terrible picture!

The brown polka dot one was made from left over fabric from when I made the valances for my kitchen. This was the only one that didn’t get painted.

The solid blue one was also dyed using paint. I wanted a darker color than the wall color but couldn’t find fabric that was the right color. So how did I do it?

It was actually really easy and not too messy.

I added a little paint to an old tupperware bowl and then added an entire 2 ox bottle of fabric paint medium. Then I added some water so that it was quite watery. Make sure the paint is 100% mixed. If there is paint at the bottom that settles and doesn’t get mixed in you will have uneven color for your end result. Stirring it is the most important step. I got the fabric that I had already cut to the right size and stuck it in the paint. I swished it, squished it, and picked it up and rubbed it. Once I made sure that it has sunk into all of the fabric, I wrung it out really well. ***The absorption of paint will depend of the type of fabric that you have*** I had a plastic kitchen garbage sack that I laid on the table for the fabric to dry. I smoothed it flat. The next day I washed them in the washing machine. Since it is not actually dye, you don’t have to worry about it bleeding. I washed the stenciled one and the two “dyed” ones together with towels and had no problems. After that I ironed them. Then they were ready to sew :) I have used actual dye in the past and this was a lot easier.

Filed Under: Decorating, Painted Fabric, Painting, Projects, Tutorials 6 Comments

Painted Rug

October 31, 2011 By Stacy 14 Comments

I think I will always be amazed at the power that paint has to transform just about anything. I wanted to paint my floors in the office but my hubby was hesitant. So figured painting a big area rug was a good alternative. I got this one from IKEA. It is the ERSLEV rug. I knew it would be a good one to use when I saw it because it was a nice off white color similar to the Heirloom White that all my trim is painted and because it has a tight weave that makes it nice and flat.

I measured out how far apart each stripe had to be so that the pattern would work. Then I used painters tape to tape the lines. Luckily for me the rug had lines from the weaving and so I followed them. I mixed up the paint with a little water so that it would sink into the rug easier. I used a foam brush because that is what I had on hand. A foam roller would work as well. The roller would have been faster but I liked that the foam brush could work the paint into the crevices. If I had to do it again I probably would have used both. When painting near the tape I made sure the brush did not have very much paint and I brushed away from the tape line. This helped so that it wouldn’t bleed under the tape. This was very time consuming since it was such a big rug but I love how it turned out!

(Sorry for the terrible picture. I still have all my office things in totes including my computer. I was not able to edit this.)

*A little office update: I am slowly getting there. I had a ton of things to build from scratch so that has been a big job. I also painted the walls 3 times before I got the exact color I wanted. I just hope that it all works out the way I want so that all this hard work was worth it :) I have some fun things in store this week!!! I got some good news too that I hope I can share soon. Happy Monday!

Filed Under: Decorating, Painted Fabric, Painting, Tutorials 14 Comments

Painting Upholstered Furniture

October 14, 2011 By Stacy 42 Comments

I remember the first time I saw someone paint upholstery. I was watching TLC’s Trading Spaces with my mom YEARS ago and one of the designers painted a couch. My mom and I both gasped. “You don’t paint upholstery!”

Lately I have seen a ton of tutorials for it. It seems to have gained popularity. Most tutorials have a lot of steps and seem complicated. I have very little patience and if I was going to try it out I wanted it to be simple.

Back when I was doing my one year anniversary giveaways I was working with DecoArt. I discovered that they have a paint made specifically for fabric called SoSoft. Now, I have used their fabric paint medium for a LOOOONG time and I love it but I had never tried their new SoSoft paint. I contacted them and asked if I could try it out.

Remember that $5.00 chair I got from the ReStore? Well, I painted it :)

Just a reminder of what it was before….

(source: Google images)

I used the color called Indian Turquoise and then I mixed it with Grey Sky.

Here is how I did it:

1.First of all, upholstery fabric is thicker than regular fabric. So I watered the paint down a little to help it sink in.

2.I used a foam brush to apply it. A regular brush would work too. I used what I had on hand. Keep it pretty thin. The heavier the coat, the stiffer it will be when it dries.

3.The key to making this work was after I brushed it on, I got a terry cloth wash rag and rubbed it into the fabric. I really worked it in there. I rubbed in every direction. If it sits on the surface it will be stiff. If you are worried that you got too much paint in an area, then get a wet rag and rub with it.

That is basically it. Because this chair was velvet, after rubbing it into the fabric I did wipe the rag all in the same direction so it would dry laying the same way.All in all it took about 20-30 minutes. I let it dry over night before sitting on it.

I am happy with how it turned out. It obvioulsy is not as soft as the original velvet, but it isn’t crunchy like I thought it might be. The main problem is that you can’t throw it into the washing machine to soften it up. Like I said, I have painted fabric for a long time (pillows, blankets, etc) and after being washed they soften up even more. Maybe I will scrub mine with soapy water or something to test it out. Who knows!

*** UPDATE: After a few days of sitting n the chair the seat really softened up! It felt like the original fabric. Seriously. So I got to thinking, how could I get some wear on the rest of the chair? I decided to SAND it! I did! I used sand paper and went over the whole chair. I didn’t over do it because I didn’t want to damage the fabric, but it totally worked. The whole chair is soft :)***

*Oh, another thing to consider is the color of the original upholstery. If you have a black chair, you probably won’t get it to turn a perfect white. This chair was gold and I think the blue was the teeny tiniest greener because of it. Just a thought.

But I love it! I can’t wait to add it to my office. Which is coming along nicely :) I also stained the legs with Minwax’s Gel Stain and sealed it with Minwax’s Wipe-on Poly.

Filed Under: Decorating, Furniture, Painted Fabric, Painting, Projects, Tutorials 42 Comments

My lamp in the daylight

December 17, 2010 By Stacy 5 Comments

It has been fun to see my lamp all done in the light of day. Since I finished it late last night this is the first time I have seen it during the day. Yep. I still love it :) These pictures still don’t do it justice, but they are better at showing the base. Thanks for letting me share. Sometime you make things and well, they end up in the basement room that no company ever sees. And only because you are cheap and think “I spent money on those supplies so I can’t just toss it out.” And sometimes you make something that you want to share with the world and show case in your front room. If you are just now visiting here, you can check out more pictures and a complete tutorial on how I made it in the post right before this. Just scroll down. Or click the “home” button and then scroll down.

Filed Under: Decorating, Furniture, Painted Fabric, Projects, staining, Tutorials 5 Comments

My scrap wood lamp with hand painted shade

December 17, 2010 By Stacy 107 Comments

YEAH! My project that I have been so excited about is finally done!!! I have wanted a lamp in my family room for so long. There are only two lights in the ceiling since my house is so old. I really wanted an antique bridge lamp like I have in my bedroom but they have tiny bases and tip very easily. Not exactly kid friendly. So I decided to make one so I could control the size of the base and make it fit my style. And if I save (a ton) of money that would be great too!

**UPDATE** Here are a couple of pictures in the day light :) A little better.

The first thing I did was lightly pencil a design onto the lamp shade. I am slightly obsessed with paisley so that is what I chose.
****Update**** I need to clarify something that until someone asked me for the pattern I used, I didn’t realize that I hadn’t explain very well. I didn’t use a pattern. I made up the paisley design as I went. I erased if I didn’t like it. Paisley is easy because anything goes. There is no wrong way. If it looks like a strange amoeba thing, you are good to go!

I used Deco Art paint to paint on the design. Usually when I paint on fabric I use a fabric paint medium. But since this won’t be thrown in the washing machine, I skipped on the medium.

I used a small pointed brush. I can do this pretty quickly. I broke it up into 3 night so I wouldn’t get sick of it. I watched a couple TV shows each night and painted. I enjoy it. If you don’t want to hand paint your shade you can by all means cover your shade in fabric. A little spray adhesive or modpodge and your set.

Now for the base. I had my husband gather up all my scrap pieces of wood from past projects and put them in the basement. My garage is freezing and I am a wuss. I covered everything in the unfinished part of our basement and turned it into my winter workshop. I cut all the wood with my miter saw. I didn’t even measure. I just grabbed it and cut random sizes. I know, I know. You are totally diggin’ my outfit. Sorry ladies. It is completely custom and takes years to make.

As I was cutting I stacked them up to make sure I was cutting enough to get the height I wanted.

When they were all cut, I sanded the heck out of them. I wanted all the edges and corners to be smooth. I have kids whose heads seem to be magnetically drawn to sharp edges.

I used a bore bit (3/4 inch) to make holes in the center of each one. Again, I did not measure. Great huh? That is probably why I like this project so much.I put the piece I was drilling on top of a piece that would not be used for the lamp.

I did not want the cord coming out of a hole in the very bottom piece or else the lamp would wobble. So I did not drill a hole in the very bottom board. I took the second the last board and drilled a hole on the side that went all the way through until it met up with the center hole. You will get a better idea of what I am talking about when you see me put the cord through this hole a little later. All you need to understand now is that I am a genius for thinking that up.

Here are all the pieces to my lamp puzzle!

Then I stained them all a dark walnut. This is right after I stained them. The stain sinks into the wood slowly. It ended up being lighter than this. I like dark stain for many reasons and one of them is that it hides imperfections quite well. Since this was all scrap wood, there were definitely imperfections!

Time to assemble! I used Gorilla wood glue on the bottom of the board and then added it to the base.

I nail gunned it so it would stay in place while the glue dried. Also, I just like any excuse to pull out my favorite tool :)

Then I strung the cord through.

After that it is pretty much like you are stringing giant beads onto a string. Glue, string it on, nail once or twice and repeat. Now, I need to point out that some of the chunks of wood were too thick to nail. But the glue when dry will be strong enough. I didn’t worry about it. I figured that it was better to have most of them held in place than none of them. I literally just grabbed and stuck it on, then grabbed another. No rhyme or reason. I have found that if you want a truly random look that it is best to make it truly random. Because of that and not measuring anything, this was an EASY project.

Sorry this is a little dark. But it is soooo much prettier in real life. I hope I get better pics in the morning.

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Filed Under: Decorating, Painted Fabric, Projects, staining, Tutorials 107 Comments

My little monkey

August 18, 2010 By Stacy Leave a Comment

About six months ago I had my 4th little boy. I redo the baby room every time I have a baby and do a new theme. This time I chose monkeys. I took these pictures before I had him so there are more things in the room now (I’m too lazy to go down and take new pictures). There are 3 white baskets on the top of the blue cabinet and stuffed monkey in the crib and a couple other monkey things. I also made a crib skirt that matches the quilt (shown in the picture below).
Painting the stripes was pretty easy. I just did one color every day since the paint takes 24 hours to cure and I needed to tape over some of the stripes to paint other stripes. The trick to getting really clean lines is to first paint along the tape line with the color that is already there. That way, if any paint bleeds through, you don’t see it because it is the same as what was already there. Then it seals the tape and you can use the stripe color. Make sure to let the first color (the one that seals the tape) completely dry before you paint the stripe color. You will get perfect lines every time!

I love to paint murals on kid’s walls. Sometimes I wish I had 12 kids that all had their own bedrooms just so I could decorate their rooms. I drew a monkey on a paper first to see how I wanted it to look. Then I free handed it onto the wall with pencil. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that then use a projector (Some libraries loan them out) to project the image on the wall and then just trace it. Coloring books are a good place to look for cute pictures if you don’t want to draw your own. The you just paint it like those good ole paint by numbers!
I couldn’t find fabric that I wanted for the polka dots so I painted some white fabric like I did for my pillow in my room (*Click here to find out how).

I love decorating kid’s rooms! They are so fun to do and they really give you a chance to use your imagination. I’d love to see YOUR kid rooms. I am always looking for good ideas. If you want, e-mail them to me at [email protected]

Filed Under: Decorating, Painted Fabric, Painting, Projects Leave a Comment

Painted fabric

August 7, 2010 By Stacy 27 Comments

I had in mind the type of fabric I wanted to make a pillow out of but I couldn’t find a paisley in the right color. I am the type that once I get a specific idea of what I want, I won’t settle until I can find it. And if I can’t find it, I make it. I used a fabric paint medium which you can find at any craft store with the small bottles of acrylic paint. You add the medium to the paint you want to use. This makes it so that the paint won’t be stiff when it dries on the fabric. I used the paint that I painted my accent wall (that you can’t see in the picture) that matches the bedding. I started by lightly penciling on the paisley design. I free handed this design but you could use a stencil too.Then I used a tiny paint brush to paint it on. You need to heat set it, so I ironed mine. You can also throw it in the dryer for a while. I washed the fabric before I sewed the pillow so the pencil marks that were still showing would come out and to soften it up. I think it turned out pretty good!