How to Paint a Pillow

Hello, At the Picket Fence friends…it’s me, Julie from Redhead Can Decorate.
I’m back at the fence, and I’m ready to start 2015 with a little something you may have never thought of trying…

I painted a pillow…

Last month, while browsing through our Good Will store here in Michigan, my daughter and I came across a throw pillow that cost $3.99. It was very plain, but in very good condition.

At home I was in the process of painting a wingback chair from the same store, and wondered if I could paint the pillow too. hmmmm?
Now, painting fabric of any kind sounds a little crazy, I know. If you know me even a little, you know that I love to take risks. I also love to save money. So, I tried it, and it worked. Not only on the chair, but on the pillow. Now, I am in love with them both.
The pretty, elegant, romantic pillow pairs up well up against the rustic, velvet-y, chic chair.

A match made in a heaven if you ask me.

Before I tell you how I painted the pillow, if you would like to know more about the $9.99 “Wingback Chair Makeover”, you can find my full tutorial here: “How to Paint an Upholstered Chair“.

When I decided to paint the pillow, I knew in the back of my head that the pillow wasn’t going to be the type of pillow that you get all cozy with and stuff under your head. In fact…it’s really only meant for decorative purposes. You know…the ones with beads, buttons, or sequins. Those just are’t meant to be cozy-fied pillows. They sure are pretty, though.

The original pillow was a light salmon pink with a slight zig zag pattern. I decided to paint it creamy vanilla white with my usual go-to white paint by Behr. The color is “Swiss Coffee” and it is egg shell sheen.
The first thing most of us worry about when painting fabric is the paint developing a hard shell on the surface. To help soften that, and to get the paint to penetrate the fabric better, you must add water to the paint. I used a jar and mixed 2/3 paint, and 1/3 water. It was nice to be able to shake it well in the closed jar before each use.

A few tips: I used tin foil to line a bowl to pour the paint into while painting, and then stored the rest in the jar. I also used tin foil to wrap my wet paint brush in when I was in between coats. Storing the wrapped brush in the freezer will keep it from drying out.
This pillow took 4 coats. It went on very easy, and the pillow is still very soft to the touch. I did sand it slightly at the end to make it as smooth as I could.

Then came the fun part. Decorating it. This is actually where I had no idea what I was going to do until I got to Joann Fabric’s. I’m inspired there a lot. When I saw this pretty pink rose for $1.99 I could not resist designing the rest of the pillow around it. The pink ribbon was also at Joann’s and it has wire on both edges which makes it so much easier to work with.

To tie the ribbon I started with a full wrap around the pillow and then wrapped it back around to the front, and tied it in the front like I tie my sneakers, but with out a bow. I skipped making a bow and left enough to tuck under the rose to almost look like a bow (the wires made it very easy). The folds you see in the top layer around the pillow happened naturally with out me trying. I liked them so much, I just left it that way.
To be honest, any way you tie a ribbon around a pillow it will look cute. Just play with the ribbon a little and give it your own touch.

The final touch, the rose, just clipped on. So pretty!

I hope you’ll stop by redheadcandecorate.com to see what else I’m up to. I’m now in Instagram, too.
~Julie XO