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."

Related to this, I have an ill-placed window behind our TV that I wanted to block out. The wall there is painted a dark, smokey blue. I tried a shade on the window and just could never find a fabric that I liked. I just wanted the window to disappear. I had a couple of yards of upholstery fabric in a textured, horizontal stripe (mostly gray with some blue and red). I didn't want the color of the fabric to show, but liked the texture, so I painted it with the wall paint, undiluted. From that, I made a simple shade to cover the window and trim; it doesn't rise up by design. It matches exactly the wall, but has a subtle texture that I just love!

arcy-when we spoke of a variety of foul creatures, i thought instantly of big bang! lol so to be safe lets add - bring broom stick pound down all furnishings before moving. lol mamap - at one time i would have believed you, but my experience proved that was not so. It was,as so often is, a warm florida afternoon when i was trying on the lovely cashmere sweater. I know that noone touched me, it was not 5 minutes , before the next sweater, that i was itching like mad. I thought it was because the clothes were making me hot, sweaty, and itchy. don't know why it stood out so in my brain but it does. oh that couch reminds me of a lovely high back bench i have. it is walnut - i had never seen that wood before, and i bought for $5 straight off the neighbor's porch. with the bird poop and horse hair included. i adore it.