I love the look of painted furniture. But some of the pieces that you can buy today come from Indonesia and are of inferior quality. The products are poorly constructed and often not even made of real wood. If wood is used on these pieces it often splits, cracks and warps when it comes into our country because it was not kiln dried in the first place. ON top of that the prices for painted furniture are extremely high in many stores.I love the look of painted furniture. But some of the pieces that you can buy today come from Indonesia and are of inferior quality. The products are poorly constructed and often not even made of real wood. If wood is used on these pieces it often splits, cracks and warps when it comes into our country because it was not kiln dried in the first place. ON top of that the prices for painted furniture are extremely high in many stores.
As an alternative, I love to paint vintage and antique American made furniture. Even scratched pieces can turn out amazingly! You end up with the look you love and a high quality piece of furniture.
3 easy ways to paint furniture.
Preparation: If the finish is smooth and in good shape I just make sure it is clean. Sometimes I just wipe it down with water. If it is sticky with wax you need to go over it with a little paint thinner, denatured alcohol or liquid sand paper. Just something to take off the top layer of sticky stuff. If the piece is peeling you may have to lightly sand it. Then wipe it down with the sticky cheesecloth.
1. Chalk paint like Annie Sloan goes on almost anything and gives you the shabby chic vintage look. I do like that look but it can feel a little chalky to the touch. I also think that it attracts dirt. So sometimes, I have found, it is better not to use this on furniture that gets a lot of use.
2. I painted a lot of furniture for my beach house with Behr Ultra Premium Exterior Paint and Primer. Most of it was sprayed on with a sprayer by my husband. We were doing so much that it made it worth the time it takes to use and clean a sprayer. The same results can be achieved by hand painting with a brush. I mean you end up with brush strokes showing with the brush if you look closely but at a glance it isn’t apparent. Over time some of the furniture can get chipped in places where there is alot of use. But the cost savings makes it worth the time it can take to touch up little chips. The risk of chipping differs with each piece of furniture also depending the original finish of the furniture. for instance some pieces never seem to get chipped.
3. The third way I paint furniture is with spray paint. I often spray paint chairs with Rustoleum Spray paint. You don’t have as many paint choices with spray paint but it sticks to anything. You need to spray it outside for the most part. I have a part of my back yard where the grass is pretty much gone because I have spray painted so much stull .
My favorite spray paint is Rust-olem and these are my go to colors:
The blue spray paint is called sea gloss and it is actually much more turquoise then it looks here. It looks great on wicker.
This black is the best of them all and the trigger makes it easy to use in all directions. I have painted so many things with this including lots of windsor chairs, shelves and smaller pieces of furniture. I use it all the time to refresh metal things that go outdoors like lanterns and other metal things that get rusty.
Here are some more before and after photos to inspire you to get out your paint brush. Most pieces can be painted in your home with just a tarp underneath and a paint brush. Spray paint needs to be done outside.
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