IKEA Hack: Painted Upholstery
As part of the ongoing series of decorating my sister’s Chicago apartment, today I’m featuring this painted Ikea Tullsta chair. My sis really wanted a yellow chair to brighten up her living room. We couldn’t find one at a reasonable price, so I suggested she just paint one. We decided on this Ikea chair. We used Simply Spray Fabric Paint in Brite Yellow (about 10 cans total). We also spray painted the legs of the chair gold. I love the way the chair turned out! Add an equally bright cushion for an extra pop of color!
1. Work on a protected work surface.
2. Following the instructions on the can, start by painting the chair cushion.
3. Begin by painting the front of the chair. *Remove or cover the chair legs if you don’t intend on spray painting them later*
4. Work your way around the chair. We found that the paint would not soak in quickly enough in certain spots so dripping would occur. Use a paper towel to rub away the drips.
Remove the legs to easily spray paint, let dry and reattach.That’s it! Let the chair dry for a few hours before sitting or placing any pillows.
This turned out amazing! How is it holding up? Any issues with the paint rubbing off? I have the Tullsta Ektorp (same shape but it has the skirt on the bottom) and want to update it for our nursery but can’t decide how to go about it. Any tips/info you could give me would be great! Thanks!!
G
Hi Gladys,
It’s holding up great! So far there has been no fading, or paint rubbing off. Just let it dry completely after spraying. Because we were in Chicago, we couldn’t really go outside to spray the chair. If you are able to I would recommend doing so. In terms of spraying the chair, you’ll have to spray fairly closely, about 6 inches from the chair. If the paint starts to drip (which it most likely will) have a rag or paper towel handy to wipe them away. Start at the top and work your way down. We bought our Simply Spray cans at Michaels, so I recommend online coupons! Also, a couple of the cans we bought ended up being completely empty! So i suggest shaking them at the store to make sure they actually have paint inside them.
Let me know if you have any other questions! Good luck!
Love this! I was planning on doing the same thing to my Ikea chairs. Does the paint make the chairs uncomfortable and itchy?
Hi Becky,
Not at all! Once the paint dried the chair felt the same as the original upholstery.
wow…nice
Everything I’ve seen so far, shows painting a light item darker. Can you go from dark to lighter?
I don’t see why not (: