Sinister Sisters strives to create a spooky lived-in atmosphere when designing for our annual home haunt. We make everything from the kitchen chandelier to the household furniture look like we live in an old haunted house year-round! Being a designer, I couldn't help but want to make a custom piece that helps the house feel intimate but haunting at the same time. Here's what I came up with, a burlap upholstered chair with a hand stenciled design.
While on one of our antique shopping trips, looking for Halloween decor, Sinister Sisters found this old chair at our local antique mall. I thought it looked kinda Gothic. It was a little banged up but, I was going to paint it black and thought that the dings would just add to it's character!
My first step was to strip the materials down to the frame by removing all of the old fabric, staples, batting and foam. If you have the right tools it's easy! I used this staple removal tool used by upholsterers. A slotted screwdriver works too but, be careful!
The foam seat was still in good shape so, I used it again. I added all new batting to soften and refresh the chair. If your chair needs new foam, replace it. We don't really want stains, rips or cobwebs on it!
Since the paint would need some drying time, I painted the frame first before stenciling the burlap. I painted 2 even coats with black Rust-Oleum "American Accents" semi-gloss. This paint is fantastic for wood because it seems to be a thicker paint than the average and makes it easy to paint in an even fashion. I sprayed 2 layers lacquer on the frame for added protection and shine.
Spray paint your frame 2-3 times.
Spray lacquer over the painted frame for added protection.
I only use designer quality burlap on new projects. It's tightly woven, sanitary and best of all it doesn't smell! First, I stenciled a simple pattern around the edge of the seat and seat back with a ready made plastic stencil using black cream paint. For bold coloring, I use Royal Design Studio's Royal Stencil Cream. http://royaldesignstudio.com It's soft and dries in minutes. I also love using a quality cream paint. You can make this paint as dark or light as you want and even create shadows for a dimensional look.
On the seat back, I designed and cut a skull pattern using the freezer paper method. Position and iron your freezer paper pattern to the burlap and stencil away! I added a border around this part too.
After your done stenciling, it's time to upholster! Position your foam, batting and burlap on the seat board and directly to the back chair frame using an electric stapler.
I lined the burlap with some black fabric so white wouldn't show through.
First, the seat back burlap piece was stapled directly to the chair frame. Cover your staples by gluing gimp or double cord around the raw edges. I used black eyelash gimp.
Next, the seat burlap piece was positioned to be centered making sure it lined up with the pattern on the back of the chair.
I didn't want to leave the back plain so, I made a spider stencil, also using the freezer paper method, for a little added surprise. This chair was placed away from the wall so it could be seen from all sides.
I love how this chair turned out! I can't wait to create another Halloween chair redux for Sinister Sisters annual haunt!
Check out our Pinterest page for more Halloween decorating ideas!
