Helpful Hints from joeeze: Reupholstery in a spray can

It's the new new thing in decorating.

Here's Joyce Wadler's story from the June 25, 2009 New York Times Home section.

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To Reupholster, Spray Away

It is always trying when a pet or a friend ruins a beautiful upholstered piece with an unsightly stain. The pet can be put down, the friend banished, but that does little to fix what is truly important in life: your stuff.

Now comes a solution: Simply Spray fabric paint.

According to its inventor, David Reizian, the president of Deval Products in Warwick, R.I., the paint can be used to disguise stains or transform anything from sofas to car upholstery to fabric partitions. It is nontoxic and, most important, won’t come off on your guests’ trousers, even if they deserve it. Mr. Reizian, 43, a onetime rock vocalist who has nonetheless spent his life in the fabric-paint business, knows because he developed it.

“We went to Goodwill and bought a couch,” Mr. Reizian said. “It was tan, and we painted it bright red. I like bright colors. We paid $50. What I noticed was it would rub off, so we went back to the drawing board. We came up with a formula that stays soft and is durable and it won’t rub off, even if it gets wet.”

How does he know?

“We had it in the factory, and I had all my employees sitting on it with white pants,” he said. “Then we tried a car interior in one of my employees’ cars: a black Ultima gray interior that we did black.”

How did he figure out which lucky employee would volunteer a car?

“I went and looked in the parking lot and saw who really needed their upholstery painted,” Mr. Reizian said. “It was Alaida Zapat. She’s our floor manager. It looks great and it doesn’t fade in the sun. She’s happy with it.”

Simply Spray Upholstery Fabric Paint is about $13 a can; information: (800) 261-4772 or spraypaint4fabric.com.