Crackled Chair – a total happy accident!

I recently had the honor of painting this chair for a women’s event at my church that Julianna Zobrist was speaking at. 

For those of you who don’t know, Julianne is married to the 2016 World Series baseball MVP, Ben Zobrist. Julianna is a singer, songwriter, total fashionista and…. kind of a big deal, so I was excited to paint something for her event!

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This is the chair I was given to work with and my friend Ryan asked me to make it white. Since I had done THIS PROJECT  basically “dying” the fabric, I thought I would try that technique first.

I mixed 1 part FAB fabric paint + 1 part French Vanilla chalktype paint + 5 parts water .

We brushed that mix on the fabric with this chalk-type paint brush trying to “work it” down into the fabric to dye it just like I had before.

Sadly, my old technique didn’t work.   After 2 coats …. the chair was still doo-doo brown.  I think because we were trying to go lighter vs. darker that the fabric just wouldn’t change color much.

So, I had to come up with another plan.  And I didn’t really have another plan. Except to add more French Vanilla to the mix and put the mix on thicker.

And that worked….. the painted fabric chair definitely went white, but it also cracked as it dried.

After the first coat, we let it dry and then sanded the whole thing with a little square medium-grit sanding block. The sanding makes the fabric soft again! But the cracks remained.

Then we did a 2nd coat of paint. And it cracked even more!

We finished with a final sanding coat so it would not be hard and crunchy.

I have no idea if we could even duplicate this look again? I mean look at these amazing huge crackle patterns!!! It was such a happy accident!!!!

And the more it cracked the more I loved it!!!!

Ava was also a fan of my painted fabric chair! Isn’t she a pumpkin pie?

I have no idea if we could ever replicate the look again, but I certainly will try because it looks like a hundred-year-old fabric.

And Julianna Zobrist sat in it!

By the way, this is my church lobby. We have the most incredible design team at my church headed by the talented Ryan Skjervem. I want to decorate like him when I grow up!

Let’s look at this one more time. What a glorious happy accident, huh?

To recap, we used:

• FAB fabric paint
• French Vanilla chalktype paint 
• water
• Sanding block
• this chalk-type paint brush

 
Happy Painting!
Jen

For more painted  fabric chair ideas see my painted blue crushed velvet chair here, which also started as an ugly brown!

And for more home painting projects, check out my FREE VIDEO of 10 things to update in your home before dinner! I have quite a few easy paint projects for you to try!