If you’re like me , you love painted furniture. I’ve been painting furniture for over 25 years, and it’s a thrill each time I bring new life to a piece. Today I wanted to share a few secrets to successful furniture painting.
Top Tips For Successful Painted Furniture
- Make sure to choose a piece of furniture that’s in good condition in structure and smell. I’ve made the mistake of falling for a piece of furniture only to find that it smells really bad, or is structurally not sound. Some odors can be eliminated, but not always. If it has a bad odor or it’s not in good structural shape, pass it up.
- Make sure to clean your furniture well before painting it. No matter what type of furniture paint you use, chalk or a primer step paint, make sure that you clean it well. You don’t want to go through all of that work to find that the paint is not adhering. You can use TSP before painting your cabinets or furniture. It removes any residue from dirt or grease. Follow directions on the package.
- If you’re painting a piece of furniture using chalk paint or using a primer paint method you may still get bleed through. Or what’s called Tannin. This is when you will start seeing what looks like water stains on your piece. This happens when you have a reaction from the paint applied to the varnish on a piece. I’ve found this happens more with older pieces of furniture. I’ve been told that it’s a reaction to the lead content in the varnish, If that happens don’t panic. Purchase Ultra Guard from Heirloom Traditions paint. It has no odor and works perfectly. You don’t have to remove the paint you applied. But, let the painted piece dry. Then apply 1-2 coats of Ultra Guard. After it’s completely dry (follow the directions), you can apply your paint. Another product you can use and it’s used the same way is Shellac, in the clear finish. I prefer to use Ultra Guard because Shellac has a pretty strong odor and should only be used outdoors. Shellac can be purchased at a home improvement center.
- If you want to paint a piece of furniture and you don’t want to distress it you can use the primer/ paint method. After you lightly sand and clean your piece well, you’ll apply primer. Depending on the piece you may have to apply primer twice. When it’s completely dry you can apply a flat, satin or gloss paint. If you use a flat paint, you’ll want to apply a clear top coat. A soft wax or a clear water based top coat. Which comes in different finishes, matte, gloss or satin.
- If distressed furniture is your thing, you don’t want to use a primer first. Using a primer will make distressing it difficult. But always make sure to clean your piece well before painting it.
- The best paint for distressing furniture is a chalk (type) paint. I’ve used many and hands down I love Heirloom Traditions paint. It goes on like butter, but distressed perfectly! I love that it’s so easy to work with and distress. No primer is needed, and it has no odor. This is not a plaster paint like most chalk paints.
My biggest tip to painted furniture is this piece of advice. Don’t be afraid to paint a piece of furniture, just go for it! If you’re wanting to paint a family heirloom but your afraid, practice on a thrifty piece of furniture first. Or find scrap piece of wood and practice different techniques. I promise if you haven’t tried it yet, you will get addicted. Painting furniture is a great way to save money when your updating any room of your home. Most posh furniture stores sell painted pieces of furniture that often sell for hundreds and thousands of dollars. Save money and do it yourself 🙂
I’m adding a shopping resource at the bottom of this post. It does contain affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something I get a small percentage of the sale. These are all products that I use and I would never recommend anything that I don’t use myself.
If you’d like to know my easiest tip for distressing furniture, here’s a PDF of distressing using vinegar. It’s the easiest and safest way to distress furniture. I never use sanding blocks to distress.
How To Distress Furniture Using Vinegar
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