Painting a leather chair with Fusion Mineral Paint

This is quickly becoming my new favourite update in our apartment and I will admit, it is taking a lot of restraint for me to not paint all of the things now.

After seeing our dining room hutch update, Fusion Mineral Paint got in contact with me and offered to let them know if I had any upcoming projects in mind and they would send me some paint. I was delighted by their offer, and I of course had some projects in mind! [I never don’t have five projects in mind]. I had thrifted an incredible tufted leather armchair a few months previously so when I finally decided on updating it, Fusion Mineral Paint kindly sent me some of their Coal Black paint [and a few other colours – projects coming soon!].

Yes, that’s right. Paint. I painted a leather chair.

I was at our local Salvation Army in May when I saw among the sea of secondhand furniture, the top of a worn tufted green leather chair. I went straight for it, sat in it, sent a picture to Robert for approval [sometimes when I’m nervous about a piece I need another pair of eyes. Luckily, he replied in capital letters to buy it], and headed straight to the cashier to buy it.

As I told the cashier I’d like to buy the green leather chair at the back, I heard “I was so close to buying that very chair yesterday!”, by an older gentleman behind me in the queue. We chatted about our favourite secondhand finds and as I was asking the cashier about the Salvation Army’s furniture delivery service, the man offered to drop it home with me now. The cynical Dubliner in me seized because who makes offers like that other than people who drug you and then you wake up in a bath full of ice? But my new inner Ottawan knew it wasn’t weird and he was making a genuinely nice offer. Plus, he was going to be driving in our direction, so I didn’t feel too bad.

10 minutes later we were lifting my new chair out of the back of his Jeep and onto the front lawn. It turns out, one of his daughters lived not too far from us a few years ago so he was able to tell me a few things about the area. I could dedicate four blog posts to the incredibly kind encounters we’ve had since moving here. Canadians are making my cold dead heart start to grow in the Grinchiest way possible.

I painted a test patch of paint on the back of the chair and left it for a few days. I came back to it and it was perfect; it was smooth and in no way tacky as Fusion Mineral Paint’s Classic Collection has a soft and almost chalky finish. During Cora’s next nap, I got to work. I took the seat cushion off the chair, cleaned it all over and painted Coal Black over the entire chair. I started with the tufted creases then moved onto the less difficult areas. I waited about 6 hours between coats and painted thin layers each time, two coats in total. I then left the chair cure for a full [agonizing] day before putting the seat cushion back and testing the chair out.

You definitely don’t notice you’re sitting in a painted chair and the finish is so smooth, you can hardly see the brush strokes.

I’ll come back and write an updated post in 6 months time to give an honest review of how our painted chair has held up. So far, even though it’s just been a week, it’s been perfect. Nothing has peeled and we haven’t been delicate with it [especially considering I love sitting with one leg over the arm at any given time. I’m classy like that].

But for now I would say if you’re considering updating a piece of leather furniture in your home, Fusion Mineral Paint is the absolute perfect option. As strange as it sounds to paint a leather chair, the results are worth it.

DISCLOSURE – while this post is not sponsored, I did receive this paint free of charge from Fusion Mineral Paint in exchange for a blog post. I only work with brands that I like and of course, think you will too. Thank you for supporting the companies that support The Interior DIYer.

Shop this look!

IKEA Ranarp Floor Lamp
IKEA Ranarp Floor Lamp
$59.99
Fusion Mineral Paint ‘Coal Black’
Fusion Mineral Paint ‘Coal Black’
CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60
IKEA Ranarp Floor Lamp
IKEA Ranarp Floor Lamp
$59.99
Fusion Mineral Paint ‘Coal Black’
Fusion Mineral Paint ‘Coal Black’
CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60
IKEA Ranarp Floor Lamp
IKEA Ranarp Floor Lamp
$59.99
Fusion Mineral Paint ‘Coal Black’
Fusion Mineral Paint ‘Coal Black’
CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60

The Interior DIYer now has shopable posts!

I’ve added a fun feature to my site from pipdig called Shopr!

I’ve been using pipdig’s Venture theme since I updated my blog at the beginning of this year. They occasionally send updates with interesting information to their users and recently they introduced their new Shopr plugin. I’ve been interested in adding a widget like this to my site for a long time now [because they look so fancy], but it was never really possible through Blogger and I was half always waiting until I had a more proper looking website. When pipdig emailed about their new plugin I couldn’t wait to try it out and LOOK AT HOW MUCH MORE I LOOK LIKE I HAVE MY SHIT TOGETHER …

Shop this look!

CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
What We Do In The Shadows
What We Do In The Shadows
$10.99
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
$8.99
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60
CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
What We Do In The Shadows
What We Do In The Shadows
$10.99
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
$8.99
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60
CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
What We Do In The Shadows
What We Do In The Shadows
$10.99
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
$8.99
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60

Going forward, anything shopable can be found at the bottom of each blog post in a cute little carousel! As anyone who has jumped from Blogger to WordPress will know there are picture width issues, so I’m slowly making my way through my old blog posts anyways to resizing my photos, and in turn I’ll be adding some Shopr’s as I go.

Our Article Sven Shadow Gray Sectional Sofa

Our cosy living room is slowly coming together and that’s hugely down to our brand new Article Sven Sectional Sofa! I hinted towards our new purchase a few weeks ago, but we were in no way expecting it to arrive so quickly. Last Saturday morning our beautiful couch arrived and we’ve been using every excuse since to spend more time in the living room.

We had been thinking of getting a new sofa for a few months now. We tried living with our secondhand French provincial sofa, but the reality is that while the armchair is very comfortable, the sofa was not. You couldn’t really bury yourself into the corner to watch a movie or put your feet up. And I wasn’t getting enough of the right kind of support so my hip pain was starting to return. All of that was pushing us towards investing in a new sofa. And when I say pushing I mean we were excited to have some solid excuses to get our dream couch.

Gray Article Sven Sectional Sofa with a blurry toddler having fun.

I can’t remember how I came to find Article’s Sven Sectional but it was one of those things that once I found it, I emailed Robert and then we talked about it for the next 3 months.

It’s a beautiful sofa. We were drawn to its tufted seat details, dark wood legs, overstuffed pillows, casual yet formal vibe, deep seats and built-in footrest. And it’s velvet [always my #1]. Their sectional is also big enough to double as a guest bed [which we’ll be using in a few weeks when my broseph comes to visit! All 8 feet of our couch will accommodate his 6’4″ height].

I contacted a few people through Instagram who owned the same couch and asked them how it had held up over the years. Some people had pets and some had kids and as long as a vat of hot liquid wasn’t poured across the couch and as long as you kept it out of direct sunlight and plumped the pillows occasionally, it seemed to fare quite well.

Still, because important things makes me nervous, it was a few more weeks until we actually completed the order. Throughout the process, every Article staff member and support team member I was in contact with were so helpful. I contacted Article by email, integrated chat on their website and by phone and on all accounts I spoke with real, honest people. No upselling or automated responses.

It’s such a fun sofa and is so beautiful that I sometimes can’t look directly at it. We’re counting ourselves very lucky to own such an incredible piece. AND it’s comfortable. Since it arrived on Saturday, my hip pain has decreased significantly. I’m not saying it’s a posturepedic couch and will answer everyone’s problems, it’s just a couch with the right kind of support that I needed. Either way, it’s a win-win for us!