Painted Furniture What You Need To Know
Painted furniture is really hot right now and has been for over the past 4 years. I think the reason people like it so much is because you can find a crappy piece of furniture at a garage sale, thrift shop or even on the curb, add a few coats of paint, and you have a beautiful new piece of furniture.
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(Cabinet painted with Posh Pink, sealed with Muddy Pond Wax)
And painted furniture isn’t limited to what you find, but also pieces in your home including cabinets and upholstered furniture.
But how do you know what pieces to paint? What’s the prep, what kind of paint should be used? And do you need to finish it?
Let’s go through each of those questions so I can answer those for you.
Painted Furniture What Pieces Can Be Painted?
Any furniture can be painted, it’s the paint used on each piece that makes a huge difference. I’ll talk about that in a bit. I have my kitchen cabinets painted, I’ve painted fabric chairs, and all kinds of furniture. Including pieces that have a veneer. In my opinion no furniture is off limits when it comes to painted furniture.
What Paint To Use?
As far as painting on furniture you can do this two ways, using a primer first, then a latex paint. Or you can avoid using a primer and use a chalk paint. I know that this is a subject that not everyone agrees with. But I’ve never personally had problems with using a chalk paint vs priming and using latex paint. I recently shared an article about these two paints you can read more on this subject HERE.
If you’re painting a upholstered fabric this can be done two ways as well, using a chalk paint or using a chalk type paint along with a fabric primer. I’ve used both methods and they both worked equally well for me. I haven’t had luck painting textured fabric as far as velvet or any textured fabric for that matter. I really don’t get a smooth look or feel. But you can paint over smooth fabric, leather and pleather using a chalk or chalk type paint. If you painting on leather or pleather no primer is needed, just paint your piece. Seal it with a clear water based coat. You can also use a clear wax depending on the look you want. I’ve used clear wax on painted fabric pieces, and the result is a smooth chair that feels like leather.
( Chair prepped using FAB, painted with Tidewater)
Prepping Your Piece
Whatever piece you decide to paint make sure it’s cleaned off well. If it’s an upholstered piece, make sure that it’s vacuumed off well free of any pet hairs. If you’re painting a wood piece, make sure it’s cleaned off as well. I never sand or prim before using chalk paint. The reason that I don’t is because I usually distress my pieces, and adding a primer would be really difficult to distress as the paint would adhere really well.
I personally didn’t prim my kitchen cabinets, I used chalk paint and again have never had an issue with them chipping. But you need to use your own discretion.
(Table painted with Aqueduct, distressed using vinegar, read more HERE)
Finishing Your Piece
I usually always seal my painted pieces when using chalk paint. If you’re using primer and latex paint, you don’t need to seal your piece. Sometimes I used a clear coat of water based top coat, and other times I use wax. It depends on the piece. How much use it will get and the look I want. Using clear wax will give a piece an hand buffed look. Sometimes I don’t seal it at all. That’s only if I want my piece to get distressed organically.
(Table painted using Vintage Green)
So if you’re thinking of painting a piece of furniture go for it, don’t be afraid. And if you’re still a little intimidated about painting a piece of furniture, then get wood scraps, or a cheap piece of furniture at a thrift shop or garage sale and practice. Remember, practice makes perfect 😉
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Thank you for all the . Great tips ,I love your work , Blessing
Anne,
Your post is very timely. I started painting my dining room furniture this weekend. All of it is cherry. I primed because I have had problems with bleed through in the past with cherry furniture. I am using off white tones. And still, after two coats of primer……bleed through. It is so frustrating! Do you have any words of wisdom for this problem?
Paint a coat of shellac over what you already painted. It will stop the bleed-through. When dry, re-paint.
Hi Anne, Love your blog and newsletters. Just wanted to tell you, I inherited my parents bedroom set in 1957, and immediately painted it white and hand painted little pink roses on the headboard, chest and dresser drawer fronts. Over the years (59), I’ve never stopped painting most ever piece of furniture that came into our homes. In January I moved into my newest home, a 2 bedroom apartment (senior living) and I am still painting. Did 5 pieces so far, including a faux fireplace that my sweet son-in-law helped me reconstruct from a small antique cabinet!!! Needless to say, I’m enjoying every day keeping busy painting and working on starting an Etsy shop, to sell my little ooak babies and children …..life’s too short not to enjoy every moment of it…….!
Excellent advice. I just painted an ugly veneered dresser I picked up for $40.00 at Goodwill. The drawers were in excellent shape and slide in and out perfectly, so I decided it was a good piece to practice on. Since I have lots of latex paint hanging out in my basement, I mixed my own paint and added calcium carbonate to create a chalk type paint. So, I painted it, distressed it and loved it. Then I started using a dark wax to antique it and it streaked! I didn’t go very far before turning to Google for answers and I read that an antiquing wax should only be used over a clear wax to prevent streaking. Have you ever had this problem? Do you use a clear wax before antiquing a piece? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
You’ve given me encouragement on a fabric or leather piece! Thank you! I just bought a house that I am doing some remodeling and I’m loving the idea!
I am thinking about painting my dining room table a white or of white color. I am wanting a distressed country look. My table has a pretty bad scratch I made in it recently with a car seat. I was wondering what would be the best way to fill the scratch in?
My mom painted furniture! But she mostly loved the look of the restored wood. I learned so much from her. She would love all the paint and creativity out there today. Love the night stand so much with the white roses in the white pitcher.
While I’m not always a big fan of chippy, distressed finish, have come to like how some of your pieces turn out, love your pink buffet/hutch and couple other pieces. Was never big fan of pink but your piece has become like a neutral for me. You and few other bloggers have educated me over the years.
We have a faux outdoor wicker table we use for coffee table with glass top and faux wicker bottom shelf. Hubs spray painted it white for me the summer we finally painted our living room (3 yrs. ago), since he used regular type spray paint, not paint for faux wicker, it’s chipping, looks like we meant to do that, lol. Haven’t been in hurry to repaint it, needs good cleaning however as I pile stuff on table too often, do some of projects around it. Seems like I clean it off and before I know it table is covered with mail, coupons cut out and whatever else.
Have kept this coffee table longer than many others we’ve had, goes well with cottage look. Hubs got table free from one of people who lived in senior development he worked at. Used to bring all kinds of great stuff home, sure miss that. People would throw furniture in dumpsters, perfectly good pieces. He has nice desk chair among other pieces. He was going to give daughter coffee table but I claimed it first.
Have wonderful weekend Anne. Great informative post.