How to Paint Furniture Plus a Before and After!

Hey crazy kids and happy Monday!  I finally got off my lazy butt and conquered one of my major projects on my summer to do list: painting our dining room buffet.  I got this awesome piece from my mom when she down-sized (thanks Mom!) and though I loved the function and the extra storage, I did not love the color and the finish.  (When Mr. B brought it home he claimed to like it the way it was because it's "rustic"...to which I said, "Show me one other piece in this house that is rustic!")  So I decided it was time to paint some furniture!  I did a lot of research before I started this project because I didn't want to mess up this really nice piece of furniture.  The same two tips were repeated over and over: prep well and paint thin coats!  So I did!  Here are the steps and a the reveal of our new buffet!

First, the before shot:

The first prep step is sanding.  Since this piece was already light colored and didn't have a super shiny finish, I used fine sandpaper.  Once finished sanding, I gave the whole piece a good wipe down.  I just used a cloth rag and Windex.

Then I gave the whole piece a thin coat of primer.  I used a brush for this step in the process so I could get into the little nooks and crannies.  This is the piece after priming:

I let the primer dry overnight and started with the fun stuff, the painting, the next day.  For the paint, I used an interior latex paint and a small foam roller.  I had to go back with a small brush for some of the tight areas, but in general, the small roller was the perfect size.

Remembering the tips I read, I did multiple thin coats.  Really thin.  Here it is after one coat:

Super light, but it went on easy and smooth and nice and thin!  I let the paint dry for a couple of hours before I started on coat number two.  Surprisingly, I only needed two coats and the piece was done!  Here is our new buffet!

I'm so in love with the new color and I cannot wait to paint some more furniture!  In general, this was an easy piece to paint because I went with a darker color, and the texture lent itself to an easy sanding/priming prep.  Some of the other pieces I am planning on painting are going to be much harder, but at least now I have some practice and I know I can do it!  One last look at the before and after!

(P.S. It has been super overcast here in "sunny" LA the past couple of days, so I apologize for the shoddy natural light in these pics!)