Painting Furniture

I tried furniture painting an old shelf, recently.

Here are some of my tips:
I used The Frugal Girl's blog post on furniture painting as my resource
A great resource with pictures!
Centsational Girl has a great furniture painting post too!

Plan on about 20-30 min. each day, over a period of about 4-5 days.
Don't plan on doing it all in 1 day.
Be patient with yourself, it takes practice furniture painting.

I've done it a couple times now over the years,
and I'm just starting to get better at it.
I'm still learning, myself, what works and what doesn't.

Basics to Remember:
Sand, Wipe off, Spray-on Primer, Sand again-wipe off, Roll on Paint

These steps work well together to give you a
finished, smooth, professional look to your furniture.


Step 1:
Sand the wood piece to remove the finish.
I used 80 grit sandpaper (This sandpaper feels rough.)
I like using an electric sander.
I just picked a sander up at my local Home Depot or Lowes or Amazon.

Step 2:
After you sand the piece, use a damp rag
to remove/wipe away all the fine dust on the furniture.

If there are any holes you need to fill or repair do this step next.
There is wood filler tubes, glue, paste, etc. you can also pick up from Home Depot or Lowes.

Step 3:
Spray on a primer using a spray can.
Use a primer color similar to the
color you'll be painting it. Grey primer works great for color;
white primer works the best if the finished piece will be white.
Apply 1-2 several thin coats of primer.
No worries, if there are a couple
spots you missed, since you will be painting over it anyway.

Step 4:
After the primer dries, Sand again! This time using a higher grit sand paper.
I used 220, this sand paper is very fine, and feels much smoother.
It's okay if some of the primer is sanded off. Your goal with this step is SMOOTH.

Be sure to wipe off the excess dust with a damp cloth again.

Then, take your hand over the piece of furniture to see if it feels smooth.
You many need to sand again if it doesn't feel completely smooth yet.

Step 5:
Time to paint. I prefer to roll on paint for the final paint color.

You can spray paint with a can, but spray cans, can get a little drippy for the final finish.
Spray paint cans works great for the primer step-
because it's fast, and if you get any drips, it gets sanded off later.
Spray paint cans also work great for smaller color changes, frames, vases, etc.

I prefer rolling on paint for larger pieces of furniture.
You could use a fancy paint sprayer for this step.
They are expensive and I just haven't invested in one yet.

For now, rolling on paint is the best for me, since I don't furniture paint that often.

Try to get a paint that has a satin finish to it.
That will give it a nice finished look.

I painted on 2 coats of paint.

If you need to take a break, you can put your roller in a plastic bag.
Plastic grocery bags work too, if your roller is larger.
You can leave your roller, like this for a few hours.

These little foam brushes work great for touch-up and some tighter spaces, if needed.

* Special note for this project, I used some leftover sample paint that was very flat.
There was NO sheen or shine to the paint.
So to help finish the piece I sprayed on gloss to give it a finished look.
But it didn't show anything really. So I wouldn't do that again.
Live and Learn- I do recommend getting paint that has a gloss, or satin finish to it.