Welcome back to our How to paint/refinish furniture class! Sorry about the long break there has been a lot going on but I have not forgotten about you, so I am back and ready to teach you how to paint that piece of furniture you have been wanting to do forever. How are you liking this series so far? Is it helpful? What questions do you have? To catch Part one of this series GO HERE. Part one is an intro to me, the class, why I started painting furniture, and all about how you can do it too. Part two is helping you figure out the style you want you can find that HERE. Part three is very important it is the shopping list for all the supplies you will need, where to get them and why I recommend the ones I do, you can find that HERE. Check them out before you go on.
Ok now that we have all the info we need and the supplies lets start painting. Below I am going to give the steps for spray paint, rolling on, staining, whitewashing, and I will also talk about sanding and glazing. To find out what your style is and which one you want to do read about that HERE.
The very first steps in any piece of wood furniture that you will be painting is Washing and sanding. I just wash my pieces of furniture with a rag and soapy water, then I make sure it is all dry. Once it is dry I get out my 220 grit sand paper, or electric sander and sand the whole thing until the previous finish is off, it is smooth, all gunk is off and all the scratches and dings are smooth. Then once it is all sanded yo are going to wash it all again using the soaping water and rag, to get all the saw dust off of the piece before we go on, then just let it dry or wipe dry.
Then you will prime you piece, I like to use the zinsser bullseye spray paint primer, find out more in PART 3. I simply just spray the primer all over the piece getting everywhere I can. This can be one light coat and that will be good enough to paint over. You do not need to cover the entire thing perfectly just enough to put a layer on for the paint to bond to. I love this primer because it is so misty and covers so well and it doesn't run which is nice, but just like any spray you will want to make sure you are at least 12 inches away while spraying and do light smooth and quick lines. Most primers will dry within 30 minutes. Once it is dry you will then do a light sand to make sure it is all smooth for painting and then wash it one more time, letting it dry completely.
Do you want to spray paint or roll on? Find out which one is best for you and your piece HERE.
SPRAY PAINT
Spray light multiple light coats letting it dry and sanding between each coat. With spray paint you want to take it slow to prevent runs and blotches. It will take more time to do it this way and more coats but it is worth it, because if you take it too fast you can get runs and then you have to sand them down and it takes more time in the long run. For most pieces depending on the color I do 3-5 coats of spray paint to get the right coverage. Remembering to let is dry, sand and wipe clean between wash coat.
And there you go you have your spray painted piece if you are wanting to leave it a plan color with no glazing or sanding techniques you will then simply go on to the last step of sealing it. If you are wanting to use those techniques go to the end of the post to see how to do that before sealing your furniture.
To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it stays that way over time even over white. It comes in cans or spray. I do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and then you are done.
ROLL ON
now for some roll on. This is my dresser for my room well one of them we had two huge dressers to redo and spray paint was not only going to be more expensive, but I felt much more comfortable rolling on something this huge. Also it was mostly flat with only a couple details that were easily brushed on and rolled over just fine. First of course you will wash, sand, wash, prime, sand and wash just like explain above before you go on to painting.
Next you will take your paint brush and get into all the detail with the paint first. Let that dry. Once it is dry you can begin to roll on.
Remember you will need a small sponge smooth roller, your paint and a container like above. For this project since it was so big I used a bigger container for the paint so I wasn't constantly pouring more in.
And there you go you have your rolled on piece if you are wanting to leave it a plan color with no glazing or sanding techniques you will then simply go on to the last step of sealing it. If you are wanting to use those techniques go to the end of the post to see how to do that before sealing your furniture.For my dressers I wanted them to look antiqued so I sanded them to find out how I did that read under the sanding title, if you are leaving it plain read below.
To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it stays that way over time even over white. It comes in cans or spray. I do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and then you are done.
SANDING
Sanding is for an antiqued worn look. That is just what I was wanting for my dressers. I wanted it really worn but you could do as little or as much as your taste and style is allowing. You are going to want to do the sanding after you have painted the whole thing and before you seal it. So your paint has been dry for at least 24-48 hours now you can get sanding. You can use sand paper or a sanding block for smaller pieces, since this was so big I used a sanding block for some and my electric sander for some depending on where I was sanding. First you are going to want to sand the edges until you can see the wood underneath or the dark color you had underneath hat you want to show. These dressers were already dark under so I didn't have to do anything before. If your piece is light under and you want it dark you can stain it before you paint, paint it brown before you paint your main color, or you can stain it after in the places you sanded.
Ok so you sanded the edges that is the most basic you can leave it like that if that is what you are wanting. For more you can then sand the details. For this dresser there were little rectangle cutouts that I sanded down and it have some details on the drawers that I sanded to make the details pop. If that is your style stop there. Or like me if you really want it antiqued you can go a step further and sand just random spots here and there on the flat surfaces to make it look old and that it had gotten beat up in several years and moves and has a story.
Now that you have it sanded as little or as much as you were going for now it is time to seal it.
To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it stays that way over time even over white. It comes in cans or spray. I do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and then you are done.
GLAZING
If you want more of the glazing look to have the details pop you will need either a glaze or a stain will work, a brush and a rag. You will glaze your piece after you painted it and let it sit for at least 24-48 hours and before you seal it. To glaze you will take your glaze or stain and paint it into the grooves of the details with your paint brush, let it sit for couple seconds and then wipe it off with a clean, dry rag. This will wipe away the excess but keep the stain in the detail making them pop. You might have to repeat this process a couple times letting it dry between each coat to get the desired darkness. Once you have it the way you want it to look let it dry completely and seal it.
To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it stays that way over time even over white. It comes in cans or spray. I do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and then you are done.
No those are the traditional ways to refinish or paint a piece of furniture with either spray paint or roll on and either kept a plain color, sanded or glazed and then sealed. Yay you are done. Unless you are wanting to do something a little different in that case lets talk a little bit about staining and whitewashing. Check out my post HERE to see which one is best for what pieces and for what styles.
Stain
For my kitchen table I really wanted the country look so I spray painted white like I showed above and then I stained the table top and chair seats.These already had been sealed so first I washed them, sanded them, and washed them again.
Now it is ready to be stained. My favorite is Minwax brand I love all their colors, but I use early American the most. I dipped my brush into the stain and painted it on the whole top and sides of the seats and table top then I let it soak in for about a minute and then wiped off the excess with a clean cloth. You do not want to just leave the stain on to dry like you would a paint. That is not what stain is meant for in fact it will not dry it will get sticky. If you wipe it off and it isn't as dark as you would like you can just repeat the steps letting it dry between each coat until you get the desired color.
Once you are at your color you can seal it. To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it stays that way over time even over white. It comes in cans or spray. I do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and then you are done.
Whitewash
First you will wash, sand and wash your piece that you are whitewashing. Next you will need your mixture of 1 part white paint to 2 parts water. You will also need a brush and rag.
For my piece it was a rustic headboard made out of pallets so I wanted it to look like I got old white barn wood from all over so I wanted them different shades. So I did each board different coats, but of course you could also make this all the same look.
Paint on your white wash just like you would any paint, of course this is much thinner. Make sure to paint it on small sections at a time or it will dry too quickly. Then you will take a clean dry rag and spread the white wash around removing all the excess. A small amount goes a long way. Then move on to the next section. This will give you the thin white washed look.
Once you are at your color you can seal it. To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I
love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it
stays that way over time even over white. It comes in cans or spray. I
do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic
the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and
then you are done.
To find my full whitewashing tutorial go HERE.
Don't forget to PIN this sucker as well as the
rest of the series for the full class.
Happy Painting!
Don't forget to follow me on Instagram
@WHITNEYULRICH
to see all my fun pics, my real life, fitness, fashion ideas
and sneak peaks of what I've been working on
Thank you for your support, for reading and for following
Make sure to check out my other social media sites and follow along
{Links below}
You make it look so easy thank you for the break down with so many steps. You are awesome at what you do. That furniture is so beautiful makes me want to go and refinish some furniture
ReplyDeleteCutest little painter ever! I love how you broke it down for us. Wish I could have gone to your pinners class!
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks so much for the tutorial and great info! My husband and I want to start redoing more furniture and this will be a big help. Just pinned it!
ReplyDeleteabsolutely beautiful. thanks for posting them.
ReplyDeleteDining Room Table Sale
Dining Room Furniture Sets
Furniture Parker
Bench Table And Chairs