Not that long ago, if you told me we’d own a chaise longue, I’d have thought you were mad. Not only would we not really have had the space – or the kind of house – for such an item of furniture, people like us just don’t own things like chaise longues! Well, by a twist of fate, we do now…

When our furniture was in storage in Manilva, we got to know the guys who owned the units well, as we visited quite frequently. They often had furniture which people had left in storage as they no longer wanted/needed it and we’d be shown bits and pieces to see if we’d be interested. And this chaise longue did catch our attention. The fabric was pretty awful – a bit chintzy, with a shiny pale blue background and embellished with gold swirls. But the shape of it was lovely, and it was very sturdy. It felt like a really well made piece of furniture, with an old fashioned sprung seat, which felt as if it was stuffed with horsehair. The legs were super cute too – small, but beautifully carved, with little swivel castors. We knew it had potential but would need recovering – so we agreed a price and put it into storage with all of the rest of our belongings.

We had a good idea where this sofa would go, and luckily, we were right, as it’s now in place, on the first floor landing. But, we never did get it recovered. Instead, we decided that we’d use Fabricoat fabric paint on it, as we’d been very impressed with this product. This time, we opted for beautiful chocolate brown – applying the paint was really just like applying melted chocolate. The coverage this time was absolutely excellent, because the fabric wasn’t overly soft – it was also very taught, so application was incredibly easy and if I am remembering correctly, it only needed two coats. Overall, we’re delighted with the new look of this really elegant chaise longue, which now looks as good as new. At a fraction of the price we’d have paid for the recovering option.

The embossed pattern has taken the colour well, but you can still see it, and this adds texture to what might be otherwise a very flat colour, so it’s worked out well. It still looks very elegant, and the carved legs are more prominent because they are no longer competing with the blingtastic fabric. Now that it’s “dressed” with a couple of cushions and a throw, it’s taken on a lovely new look, and is very much at home in its new space. And, yes, we do now feel very comfortable being the owners of a super gorgeous chocolate brown chaise longue…