Into the Light

When I moved into my current apartment, my aunt and uncle happened to be moving out of their home and I was lucky enough to acquire a good deal of the items I needed from them. Since then I have been trying to create a cohesive look with stylistically disparate items. My roommate contributed the kitchen table, but I provided the chairs and for over a year the clashing color schemes have irked me. So I decided to give the chairs a makeover. Here's how I did it. 

Materials

• Cotton Duck Fabric
• Fabric Paint
• Fabric Marker
• Fabric Waterproofing Spray
• Linoleum Block (sub corrugated cardboard)
• Lino cutter (sub exacto/utility knife)
• Sand Paper
• Spray Paint
• Staple Gun

I used printmaking tools to create the stamp for the strawberry pattern, but you can easily substitute those materials with corrugated cardboard and an exacto or utility knife.
I created two strawberries from the linoleum block and used Jacquard fabric paint to stamp the images on the cotton duck fabric. I used a green fabric marker for the stems. Despite the fact that fabric paint should already be waterproof, I didn't want to take any chances with material that people would be sitting on so I coated the fabric with Scotch Guard waterproofing treatment just to be safe. 

Because the chairs already had a glossy finish I sanded the surface before applying the new color. The cushion and old fabric were easily removed with a couple screws and staples on the underside of the seat. I then wrapped the new fabric and reattached the cushion with the original screws. The chairs now blend nicely into the bright world of color we've tried to create in our kitchen.