The Pink and Gold Throne and how it came to be.

My girlfriend, Meg and I recently hosted an over-the-top, Pinterest style, pink and gold themed shower for our girlfriend (who is also Meg's sis-in-law). We spent months planning for this shower, and we were so excited when the day finally arrived.  More on that soon.

But until then, I wanted to share the "throne" we created for this shower.  We got this idea from Pinterest and weren't exactly sure if or how we were going to pull it off.  We even had a simple back up chair if needed.

But a couple weeks before the shower, my mom and I were in a small florist/antique shop looking for something entirely different.  And, BAM!, there it was.  Sitting there.  The perfect candidate for our "throne."

After some time and deliberation, we were able to go back, and pick up the chair.  But how to make it pink and gold? I called a friend.  She's excellent with things like this.  There wasn't enough time (or money) to reupholster. And the chair was too complicated to make or purchase a slip cover.  So she suggested that I google "painting cloth furniture."

And that's when I came across this post called "Painting Upholstered Furniture." Don't you just love blogs? :) It was super helpful.  She had just painted a velvet chair. Giving great tips, her steps were easy to follow.

I went to the store to pick up the paint. They didn't have the exact type she mentioned in her blog. But I found something similar called Tulip Soft Fabric Paint (remember puff paint?! same paint company people!)  I grabbed almost all of it they had in the pink color I was going for and was on my way back home.

That night, I taped all around the wood with masking tape and then covered the rest of the upholstery so I could begin by painting the wood.  Using a gold color spray paint, the wood was suddenly no more.  This chair was already taking shape as our "throne"!!

After letting that dry over night, I took all of the tape and covering off to begin tackling the fabric.  Watering the paint down, I used a paint brush and started painting it on the fabric.  At first, it wasn't the color I was hoping for. But I tried not to panic and just kept painting.  It darkened while drying, which was a relief.

The plaid from the upholstery ended up showing through, but it seemed to give a cool effect to the chair.  We decided not to chance it since it turned out so well and only put one coat on the chair.  You're supposed to sand the fabric a little once it's dry to help it be soft faster.  But it should soften up again with some wear too.  It's not stiff or crusty.  It's just a little not soft.

And when the day of our shower came, it looked so good in the room.  It just POPPED!

Here's Meg testing out the chair, I mean throne, before the party.  I think we were just a little giddy (and possibly tired from running on 4 hours of sleep.) But we were ready and finished with over 30 minutes  to spare before guests started arriving.