When I originally asked for directions, someone posted a link to the instructions. Since then, the post has been deleted so I decided to just do it from memory. I painted it just as you would a wall. I rolled on 2 coats of primer. I recall the instructions saying to sand in between coats. I didnt. Then I rolled on 2 coats of the final color. I used what I had on hand. I painted the front a beige pearlized color from BM. It's what I used to paint my bedroom. I havent done the back of the sofa yet but I think I'm going to paint it red. My son is going to be thrilled when he gets to "decorate it" this evening. It looks sorta like a cross between regular fabric and pleather. The original sofa material isnt smoothe. It has a slightly raised design. The raised design is slightly apparent thru the paint.

Whatever you use, make sure it's set well. Reading a tag on some jeans recently, it warned that the dye might rub off onto furnishings (hard to imagine that got through the design process! Think they were Gloria Vanderbilt jeans. At Costcos). Later was reading how someone had noted the dye from their jeans had rubbed off onto their furniture. So, I'd just make sure that whatever paints/dyes you're using isn't going to transfer onto clothing and then over to paint another piece ; )

You don't need to paint every wall to bring color into the environment. So to keep that wall with all the doors from looking cut up I would leave the it, the demi-wall that crosses it, and the dining room as they are and add color with drapery and art. Alternatively you could add color by painting the dining room side of the demi-wall and the space below the chair rail.

Do you want a hot trend that's good for five years or a personal color scheme that you'll like for much longer? If you want the hot trend for your area, look at photos of your local showcase house from the last year or two. If you want a more personal color scheme, collect some photos of rooms you really love, then look for the colors in common.