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Furniture painting tips by Thomas Dean
Do you have an old piece of furniture that could use some updating?
Or perhaps you are changing the color scheme of your room and you need to accommodate the furniture?
Maybe even you are moving furniture around the house and your piece just needs a facelift.
Whatever your reason, there is no reason your wood furniture needs to be professionally refinished.
With a little bit of patience and some helpful tips, you can paint your wood furniture yourself and save yourself a lot of money in refinishing costs.
The main steps in painting furniture are sanding, priming, and painting.
You will need to have patience for second coats with either primer or paint, but the end result will be worth the effort.
- The first thing you want to do is ensure your furniture is not antique.
If it is, the value could be lost if you change the finish on it.
If you are sure it’s not, go ahead and get ready to paint.
- Your work area needs to be well-ventilated with nothing around that will induce sparks or flames.
If possible, paint outside or paint around many open windows.
- If your piece has drawers, remove them and remove the hardware on the drawers.
Put the furniture on a few layers of newspaper or on a painter’s drop cloth.
- Sand the furniture until the surface is smooth.
You will need to use fine-grit sandpaper, around 120 grit.
Here you will need gloves, a dust mask, and safety goggles, as the dust will fly upwards.
Sand both the furniture, and any corresponding drawers.
Ensure each inch of the furniture is sanded evenly, or you will have paint catch and thicken in areas where sanding is not even.
- Vacuum the entire piece as thoroughly as possible to catch any stray sawdust from sanding.
- Apply a coat of white or gray water-based primer.
You can use a spray paint if the piece of furniture is large, be sure to put drop cloths or newspapers in the surrounding areas if you are spraying.
Give 1-2 hours drying time, until the primer is dry to the touch.
- If the primer looks thin or even spotty, give it another coat.
If you aren’t sure, it won’t hurt to have another coat of primer on it.
- Once the primer is dry, sand down the rough spots so that you have a nice smooth surface for your paint.
- Now for the fun part! Brush your paint on with slow even strokes ensuring you are going with the direction and grain of the wood.
If you are spraying, ensure your passes are slow and sure and approximately 8-12 inches from the wood.
Allow the paint to dry at least 4-6 hours, and a second coat is a must.
The piece should dry for at least 24 hours before use.
Voila! You now have a “brand new” piece of furniture!
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