Painted Leather Barstools

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!  It was a little scary -especially since I searched the internet for days trying to find anyone that had done something like this and I came up empty handed.  Ok, Enough talking, drumroll please.......................................

Here is the plain white leather barstool before

And After!!!!

The stencil I used is the "Marrakech" from Cuttingedgestencils.com.  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).  The colors I choose were "light grey" and "mustard", and finally I finished off the chairs with a coat of their Acrylic Finisher (in Satin).  Before stenciling the chairs I lightly sanded them with a fine sandpaper to give the paint something to grip to.  Since the chairs came unassembled I decided to leave them that way to make it a little easier to stencil.  The chairs worked well for stenciling since they have a very basic shape (not a whole lot of curves or crevices to try to stencil).  I was amazed at how easy the process was - total time was only about 4 hours.  Once they were done and had dried for a full day I assembled them.

 For the stencil I decided to use a small stencil sponge brush (called a "spouncer" - you can find them at Michael's) rather than a foam roller.  I just wanted to go a little slower and more carefully and I was glad I did.  The paint is water based so it was easy to tidy up any smudged lines once the stencil was removed and while the paint was still a little wet.

Because I used two different colors I taped off the areas of the large stencil that would be the mustard color.  After I stenciled all the chairs in grey, I went back with a small single stencil (it comes free with the large stencil) and painted in the small "mustard" areas.  To hold the stencil in place on the chair I simply put two big pieces of rolled up tape on the center of the back of the stencil then stuck it to the chair.

If I didn't already have a full-time job of mother I would consider being a custom leather furniture painter!  Just kidding - but really somebody could make a living doing this!  There are endless possibilities since there are tons of stencil designs these days and lots of different colors of leather paint.  If you are a real artist you could free hand a design.  If you didn't want to purchase a stencil you could print something off the computer and trace it then paint by hand.  (I didn't trust my skills to freehand anything).

  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 spent $40 on the stencil and another $40 on the paints.  For the paints I bought a 4oz bottle of the mustard color, a 4 oz bottle of neutral color (which I didn't end up needing), a pint of the light grey, and a pint of the acrylic finisher (in matte) - by the way the website recommends a preparer-deglazer but it is only to be used on leather -not manmade stuff - and my chairs are made of "leatherette" whatever that means so I didn't use the preparer-deglazer on it).  I overbought on the paint (but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry).  The particular stencil I chose really didn't require a whole lot of paint.  I probably could have gotten away with just a 1 oz. bottle of mustard and 2 4oz. bottles of light grey.  Click here to see my unhappy thoughts on the "Acrylic Finisher."

   So I bought the chairs 2 for $152 from overstock (however I DON'T recommend them - click here to see why) then add in the $80 in materials and my total cost is $384 for four barstools or $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 3 boys!

Here is the Before and After of my kitchen.

I honestly have never had so much fun making something.  It really was easy and I enjoyed every minute of it.  I am seriously considering making a set painted in a red design for Christmas time.  If anyone reads this and is inspired to make their own please, please, please send me a picture!  I am so excited about the possibilities that I would love to see some of them come to life.  And don't hesitate to ask me any questions you may have.  I now think every kitchen and dining room should have some custom painted leather dining chairs!  It's worry free custom dining!

**GREAT NEWS**  

I have painted more chairs!
Click HERE to see all my Leather Chair Posts.


Thanks for the Features!!
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