Talk to me about painting furniture

[DawnM]

Have you done it?   How can I make this process easy and quick?   Or is that not possible?

I know there are things like Annie Sloan, but I even messed up with that!  That's how awful of a painter I am.   I could try it again, but is that the easiest?

DH says the ONLY way to paint wood furniture is to wash it, sand all of it, prime it, and then spray paint it.   He can't seem to wrap his head around any other way.

Thanks

[Pawz4me]

I've only ever painted the top of a dining table. We --

• Sanded, vacuumed thoroughly, and then followed up with a tacky rag
• Applied primer
• Lightly sanded again, following up with vacuuming and tacky rag
• Did several coats of chalk paint (something from Home Depot--maybe Behr, but I don't remember). I think we applied it with foam rollers, but my memory is fuzzy. We definitely didn't use a sprayer
• Applied several coats of wipe on polyurethane

The finished product certainly wasn't fancy, but to me it was totally acceptable. That was in March 2019 and the table is just now beginning to need some attention again. But we're an all  adult household, so while it gets used multiple times daily, it's not rough use. We do normally use placemats and trivets for hot things. We could redo it, but I'm leaning towards a new table now, mainly because I want something a little smaller.

[stephanier.1765]

Definitely, wash it. That it'll get rid of any grime that might keep the paint from adhering. If it has a glossy finish, I'd still do a sanding just to break that up even if the paint says you don't need to. It doesn't need a "get down to the wood" type sanding but enough that your paint will have something to grab onto. I paint with a brush because I don't have a sprayer so you can do it either way. Recently, I was painting cabinets (with a cabinet paint) that were a dark color, so I did prime those since I was painting them white. However, I have chalk painted other furniture without that step and they still look great years later.

[DawnM]

We are wanting to get a large entertainment center and make it over.   Originally we were going to buy kitchen cabinets and make our own built in sort of wall for the office, but it was going to be thousands, and we don't want to spend that.

I have found a Thomasville solid wood entertainment center that really is just what we need and I would l like to get it and make it over.   It is the right length for the space, they are asking $900.   That is much cheaper than the Lowe's cabinets we were looking at, and better quality wood.

I also found another solid wood entertainment center that would work that is FREE, but it is 2 ft. too short length wise and I feel we could really use the extra storage.......but saving $900 would be great.

Just trying to make a decision.   Either way, we will need to paint.   Now I will need to decide....paint white to match the room's trim, or paint a sea salt and add some dimension to the room.

[Katy]

Your DH is right if you want the best results.

[mmasc]

You could try milk paint. Supposedly it’s easier to work with than chalk paint, but I don’t know enough to say if that’s true. I love this lady’s videos and tutorials. I’ve only used her milk paint for a big mirror frame, so not furniture, but it was nice to work with. 

[Spryte]

I’ve had good luck with Annie Sloan, but I did a lot of prep, too. Also, the finish afterward is very important. I’ve used her wax (multiple coats), but also another commercial finish. We have Annie Slaon painted kitchen chairs that have seen hard use for 15 years. Those have a wax finish, and still look great.

I didn’t prefer milk paint — I don’t recall why.