Monday, July 22, 2013

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!)

4 comments:

  1. Wow! What an awesome transformation. I love how it turned out and love the color! You get an A+++ on this. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That looks awesome! So I have a question for you ... I just painted a bookshelf and mine came out sticky. Any idea why? What type of paint did you use? Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Natasha! Was the piece wood or laminate? I haven't had very good luck painting laminate pieces, so that could be the reason. The only other thing I can think of would be the paint/primer. I used Behr interior all in one primer and an interior latex paint. Also, if you are going to paint other pieces in the future, using thin coats really helps!

      Delete
  3. Hi! You may have said this but what color paint did you use. I love the color.

    ReplyDelete