The endlessly clever Wary Meyers, designer and author of Wary Meyers’ Tossed & Found: Unconventional Design from Cast-offs, sells cotton canvas pillow covers that he’s painted with acrylic paint, which is pliable. He mimics the look and feel of famous Abstract Expressionist works – like De Kooning, Pollock, Kline, Motherwell. The pillows are backed with velvet or corduroy, and filled with down and feathers. You can buy them here for $145 or…

Why not do-it-ourselves?  We’ve been seeing painted upholstery all over the place (see below), and then remembered that we’d written a post about fabric paint some time ago. This takes the idea a step further, using acrylic paint, which comes in a glorious range of colors, including precious metals. Why not paint just about anything made of a textile: bedspreads, shower curtains, upholstered chairs…? Check out these gold-spliced chairs from Anthropologie’s exhibit of New Orleans artists…

…and this little unattributed chair we found on Remodelista:

…and then there’s Rolf Sachs’ paint-spattered Ginger & Fred chairs:

You need to mix acrylic with a polymer emulsion to turn it into washable fabric paint, and leave the fabric soft and pliable. You can read how to use it here and here, and with details about specific fabrics and applications, here.

Carla Hughes, a handbag painter, who tunes in to ‘the improvised life’s Facebook page, told us the gold acrylic she likes is from the Liquitex Basics series, which also comes in silver, bronze and copper. We’re going to see what’s possible in the realm of gold…

Related post: blank canvas furniture