Young House Love

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How To Stencil Fabric Chairs

The soft spot we have for stencil projects has certainly grown since our office undertaking, but this one by Amy at The Casablanca Transformation would probably win over even the most skeptical stencil fans. And it actually sounds doable in well under fourteen hours! Score. Here’s her letter:

No matter how many decorating projects I do in my lifetime this one will surely go down in history as one of my all time best! I am so happy I had the idea and even happier that I dared to try! Here is the plain white leather bar stool before:

Amy Barstool Before

And the after!

Amy Barstool After Single

I used a stencil from cuttingedgestencils.com and the paint is from turtlefeathers.net and is called Angelus Paint. It is made especially for painting leather (it has a bit of give to it and won’t crack). Since the chairs came unassembled I decided to leave them that way to make it a little easier to stencil. I was amazed at how easy the process was – total time was only about 4 hours. 

Amy Barstool During

I loved that I could pick out the exact style and colors I wanted for these chairs – a custom chair at a very cheap price! I bought the chairs 2 for $152 from overstock then add in the $80 in materials and my total cost is $384 for four bar stools ($96 each)! To have these stools custom upholstered in a fabric of my choice would have cost a lot more than that and they would have been ruined so quickly. I am hoping this painted leather alternative means they will stand the test of time and three boys! – Amy

Amy Barstool After Triple

Awesometown, right? You can check out more details over on Amy’s blog. Is anyone else’s head filling with ideas of what else they could stencil? And look at that pretty kitchen in the background. Me-ow.

Update: We just learned that there are some follow up posts about a few pitfalls with these chairs (specifically she wasn’t happy with the quality of the chairs themselves or the acrylic finisher that she used), so more details can be found here and here. Although Amy did drop in to say the actual stenciling process really works and some other chairs that have been stenciled (of better quality) are holding up great (without any acrylic finisher). Hope it helps!

Comments

  7. Leah says

    Love Reader Redesigns! This is a great project.

    Just wanted to let you know that you mention early in the post that the project took 14 hours, but the reader said it took 4.

    Love this blog! :)

    Reply

  9. Allyn says

    Love this! I’m thinking of stenciling some lamp shades in our living room. Well, first I thought of spray painting, but I’m afraid it would block too much light. Stenciling a small design might be better.

    Reply

  12. Kim Dunn says

    Great idea! And I have to say, I laughed out loud when I read the ‘Me-ow’ line. I literally scrolled up to double check that it was John writing since that sounded like something Sherry would write!

    Reply

  16. heather s. says

    If you read her blog, she doesn’t recommend the chairs she used. The ones from Overstock had issues so she’s now trying this out with some from Target. Just FYI in case anyone wants to try this themselves.

    Reply

  18. Mary says

    Those are so pretty! And when I saw the final photo my first thought was… That wooden hood cover makes me so excited to see yours when it is all finished!

    I think I read your blog too much. :)

    Reply

  25. Lindsey Rockers says

    Awesome! Btw… This is definitely do-able on regular fabric too. I haven’t used a stencil for it before, but I have taped out a striped design and spray painted it. After taping, I sprayed with some of Rustoleum’s Crystal Clear Enamel, to give me clean lines and keep things from bleeding. Turned out awesome and hasn’t given me any problems with coming off or cracking or anything.

    I bet your wheels are spinning with your dining room chair covers! I know that color of brown you’ve got going on right now can’t be doing it for ya!

    Reply

  26. erin says

    Just an FYI to everyone who read this post and is running out to buy stools and paint:

    Look at ALL of the author’s blog post entries on painting stools. She ended up having to send those particular stools back, was unhappy with the finisher she used, and had some trouble with later similar projects that she tried. Just be sure to read everything so you can get ALL of her advice! :)

    Reply

  27. Amy says

    What a fun surprise to visit your blog today and see my barstools! Thanks for the feature and kind comments – especially the Me-ow! By the way at the top of the post you called my blog “The Casablanca Project” and I am kicking myself that I didn’t think of that title – I like it a lot better than the one I thought up!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks so much for those links! We just learned about that and have added an update to the bottom of the post with those links for folks to check out!

      xo,
      s

  36. Lexy @ The Proper Pinwheel says

    These look beautiful! I’m so sad to hear they aren’t lasting. Darn Overstock. :(

    We are currently house-sitting so my desire to go crazy with decor and get my DIY on has been muted. Keep these posts coming! Great inspiration for the day we get our own home!

    Reply

  37. Amy @ Casablanca says

    Although it is true the barstool itself didn’t hold up well, please be assured the paint did hold up great!!! I still recommend this project. My brother and Sister’s chairs have been just fine. So just make sure you have a good quality chair before you go to the work of stenciling it, and I wouldn’t worry about using the acrylic finisher at all. My brother’s chairs have no acrylic finish on them and the paint is holding up just fine on its own. Thanks for all the kind comments!
    Amy at Casablanca

    Reply

  48. Mary @ stylefyles says

    wow. yes – great work! I was seriously looking at the first photo wondering if it was the before or after (because seriously, the white stools were great as is), but the stenciling is just phenomenal! Love it!

    Reply

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