Chair Makeover with Vinyl Spray Paint

​by Vicki      ​Sign up to get Mother Daughter Projects updates in your email!

Yes, there is such thing as spray paint for vinyl. Rust-Oleum makes it and it is actually called Fabric and Vinyl Paint although I’ve tried it on fabric and it was a FAIL! I would have to do more testing to see if it also works on fabric. But this post is about using it on a vinyl chair so let me walk you though what I did.

50's green, worn wrought iron, the chair was ready for a refresh

The nail heads were all rusty--they got painted along with the vinyl.

My project piece was this little 50's chair which was purchased for $5 at a thrift store a while back. I like the chair but not the color. As I really didn't want to reupholster it, I decided it was the perfect piece to try vinyl spray paint as an alternative to reupholstering. 

Materials/Tools:

• Vinyl and Fabric Spray paint (in flat black) I had to order it from Amazon as the paint is not available locally in my area (I had to reorder more paint after accidentally dropping the seat cushion wet side down onto the ground!)
• Krud Kutter
• Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint 
• Sugru in black to create the covers for the chair legs.
• 320 grit sandpaper 
• Screwdriver

To prepare the surface for paint, clean everything with Krud Kutter or your cleaner of choice.

I took the chair apart to facilitate painting. It was easy just 7 screws total. Easy to remove, easy to put back.

The screws were placed into a little cup with Krud Kutter to help remove the rust. It's always a good idea to have a dedicated place for any hardware you remove from a project piece. These little cups, that also have lids, work well.

The chair frame was sanded lightly then sprayed with oil rubbed bronze.

After the cushions were clean and dry they were sprayed with Rust-Oleum Fabric and Vinyl spray paint in flat black.

Painting in progress.

Painting progress interrupted!

I dropped this on the ground and had to let it dry then sand off the dirt with 320 grit sandpaper and repaint!

This paint is fairly hard to use, at least in Florida in the summer. I think I was having problems because of the humidity and heat. The paint was drying with grayish looking dry splotchy patches. I finally had to create a small spray tent inside my house in order to get it to dry properly. It appears cooler temperatures are needed for proper drying. I won’t try this paint again until the weather cools to between 70 and 80 with low humidity.

After replacing the screws, I sprayed a little of the oil rubbed bronze into a cup to create a puddle of paint which I then used to touch up the screw heads (close up of chair back).

Two of the legs were missing these plastic leg covers.

Using Sugru, I made new ones.

I taped off where the top edge of the cover would be and then moulded the Sugru around the tip until I got the shape I needed.

I used a wood skewer to get the indented area in the front and back of the cover. Sugru needs to cure for 24 hours then it is ready for use.

Although the Fabric and Vinyl paint is tricky to use, I do like the results. I have two more chairs that I want to use this paint on but that will have to wait until late fall. Rust-Oleum also has this paint in a liquid form. I will have to try that to see how it compares to the spray! 

Please note: We are not sponsored by any of the companies/products that we used. These products were picked and bought by us.

FYI: We are not professionals, and we don’t claim to be. This is what we found worked for our project. Yours may need a little different approach. Safety first!

FYI: Affiliate links are being used on this page. Purchasing via these links help support MDP!

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