Christine, glad to see post from you. You haven't posted in a while and even though I don't know you, I was worried about you. Also missed your insights and humor. A few months ago, I tried painting the upholstery on an old side chair. It sort of turned out. It looks okay from a distance but dont touch it because it is quite stiff. Haven't really sat on it but pressing on it yields some lines almost like cracks in the paint. I had followed the directions from the website linked above. The fabric that I painted was a pinkish color velvet and I painted it a soft sage green. The chair had cane sides, so not much fabric. It took more coats and consequently more paint than the directions stated. Maybe because of the type of fabric. So in other words, my painting effort was not too successful. I will not be using the chair as is. I may try again with different paint on the remaining matching chair. Hope you figure out how to make your chair work for you.

Karin, I actually did google painting carpet :) While I have seen painted floorcloths or outdoor rugs painted sort of as novelty area rugs, there are so many obvious problems with painting carpet I cannot imagine why anyone would try it. At best, it would be a cheap and temporary fix that would soon look even worse than the original defect. When I googled it there were few instances of someone trying it (someone on that awful Trading Spaces show was the notable one) and an account of someone on another website who tried it as an experiment. This is that experimenter's conclusion: "Visually, the carpet did not look bad, at least from a distance. Close up, you could easily see that the fibers were compressed. When I pressed on the surface with my hand, it felt rough and left an impression that did not quickly disappear. The effect of stepping on the carpet with a bare foot was less than pleasant. In sum, this is not a flooring product that I would want in my home." I guess if one's carpet was truly hideous it might be tempting, but the realization that it would actually make things worse would keep my paint in the can!

Here are some instructions Magnaverde (www.magnaverde.com)gave over on BHG a while back on painting a sofa: ""Forget all that nonsense about teensy bottles of expensive paint medium from the crafts store. You don't need anything more than regular latex semi-gloss paint--and a lot of guts. I found a beautiful Baker Chippendale camelback sofa, with cool curved arms and a fat down cushion, but it was covereed in a hideous glazed chintz in the ugliest colors I ever saw. I found some great yellow wool damask to reupholster with, but it would have cost me $3OOO just for the fabric and trim, so I painted my sofa instead. Everyone freaked out when I told then the plan, but it worked. I was planning on painting my living room dark green, so I decided to go with red leather. First, I painted the whole thing with bubblegum pink semigloss latex paint, using the widest foam brush I could find, and brushing it on in long strokes front-to-back and up + down. Think of that as the primer coat. I let it dry 2 days, and sanded it super lightly with fine-grade sandpaper to get rid of the burrs--and there were a lot of them. When I couldn't feel any more sharp things, another coat of paint, spread thin. Dried and sanded again. Then spread--with my hands--a thin coat of raspberry red semi-gloss paint I had deadened a little with brown to make it a little less vivid. Because it was a deep color, there wasn't much white filler in the paint, so it was almost like a glaze or stain, instead of paint, which is just what I wanted anyway. I just smoothed it on, like suntan oil, and worked it into the pink paint. I let it build a little thicker at the back, on the inside of the arms and at the back edge of the loose cushion, so that the paler, thinner red took on an air of wear at the high points. I let it dry 2 days, then CAREFULLY sanded the few new sharp things, and touched up those spots with my fingers. I let it dry 2 days, then waxed the whole thing with regular paste wax. After it was dry, I polished with a soft cloth, then dusted with talcum, and vacuumed it all off. It was a little stiff the first few days, but now it not only looks like red leather, it feels like it. This worked great on my ugly glazed chintz, and probably would work on any smooth fabric, except that some may have more burrs and therefore require more sanding, but I wouldn't try it on anything with a heavy texture. And no, the paint doesn't peel off. And no, it's not stiff, either. Think about it--it's latex paint, and essentially, that's what's in those little bottles of fabric medium."

I am going to disagree with Penny. Sorry Penny..... I am sure it will work. I would not worry about pooling of paint under the surface. I stapled some canvas to the drywall in my dining room and painted a mural on the canvas. Just recently I had to lift a portion of the mural from the wall. The wall is painted white. The mural is black. This is what it looks like underneath. Not enough pooling of paint to worry about. Also, to be clear, when I painted the canvas it was not canvas purchased from an art supply store. It was a canvas tarp purchased from HD. I agree that it would be easier to paint your piece then a sofa or a chair, which I have also painted. Just go for it. I am sure it will turn out great.