Monday, November 14, 2011

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

THE GOOD:


I touched up my red painted chairs with some white paint so there aren't pink smudges everywhere.  The white paint is not an exact match to the white leather however I still think it is an improvement!  The stencil job looks a lot cleaner and better now.

THE BAD:

I don't recommend the quality of these overstock chairs.  I gave them a great review on the website and can no longer change that review so I am giving you the real review here!  Only one month of use and the cushion on the chair looks pretty sad!  You can paint lots of different kinds of leather chairs so just find ones that are better quality than these bad boys! 

AND THE UGLY!

The "Acrylic Finisher" product from turtlefeathers.net that I put on the chairs is rubbing off in areas on the seat and looks pretty ugly.  I am not too pleased with this finish product.  I like the idea of putting something on the chairs to protect the paint but can it really be protecting it if it comes off easier than the paint?  It also seems to make the little lint hairs from my boys jeans stick to the seats so I am constantly wiping them off and my wash cloth is covered in blue lint - yuck!  I don't know exactly what to recommend to anyone doing this project but maybe you could try a leather conditioner instead?  Or maybe only 1 or 2 very light coats instead of the 4 that I put on these chairs.  The paint itself is holding up great - I have even used a magic eraser on the chairs to clean them and the paint was not bothered by that at all!  I almost wonder if you could get away with no finish product?


Thankfully they still look great from the back, the paint is holding up well, and the ugly parts of the chair are hidden under the countertop!

Just wanted to pass on these tips for anyone else attempting this project!


7 comments:

  1. They still look beautiful, but it's good to know. It's a shame that your hard work is more durable than the chairs. :(

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  2. Thank you for the tips. I lack your courage to attempt such endeavour ;) but it's always good to know. And the good isn't good, it's great.

    Congratulations!

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  3. How do you think it would look painting brown leather chairs white and then stenciling over that? Can you use this paint on " fake" leather? also, that is too bad about your white leather chairs from overstock, I love those! Thanks for the great tips!

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  4. Personally I would not dare paint a brown leather chair white all over - I think it could be done though. Yes this paint definately works on fake leather! All the chairs I have painted thus far have been fake leather. Glad you are finding my leather painting learning experiences helpful!
    Amy

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  5. Stopped over from YHL...Even though there were problems with these chairs, your stenciling job is amazing.

    A few years ago I made the mistake of purchasing a dresser from Overstock. The dresser came with no instructions and when put together the drawers were wonky and didn't slide in and out easily. Though Overstock is inexpensive, the quality, in my case, left much to be desired and not worth the expense to ship back.

    ~ Sue

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  6. I painted a blue leather ottoman entirely over with a soft tan latex paint (not even a leather paint!). I would say that if you ate the brown and are never going to appreciate having them in your house, to go for it! I didn't hate the blue ottoman, but I was willing to take a risk and get it reupholstered if I ruined it. Turns out, I LOVE it and now it fits in my room and I am proud to say I did it myself!

    Question for Amy - Did you do any removal of the original sealer/topcoat that was on the leather before stenciling?

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  7. I did not use a "product" to remove any sealer or topcoat before stenciling, I only lightly sanded the leather down before stenciling.

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