When recently confronted with a space and organization issue in our home, I began to let my mind drift to the thoughts of buying new furniture.
Then I stopped. Wait! Can’t I use what I have here and just give some furniture a fresh look, a new room in which to reside?
It was settled. The following weekend’s project? Painting furniture.
Two dressers, to be exact. One of them the dresser from my nursery when I was a baby….the other from our son’s nursery, purchased unfinished seven years ago.
The older dresser had been white once — but then underwent a coat of bright yellow, white again, then an experimental application of beige crackle paint treatment. (I did this before I was married and moved into our first home. It was in our dining room then.) It remaining in either our dining room or our foyer for the next two subsequent house moves.
This older dresser was donned the “craft cabinet.”
When I moved all of our art and craft supplies into the laundry right off of the school room last month, this cabinet was left free and open.
I decided to give it to Rainey since the 7-year-old dresser that was currently in her bedroom was considerably less roomy (and honestly, a little top-heavy and tipsy). It needed, though, to be white once again.
Then there was the newer dresser, the “current nursery” dresser. This newer dresser can be seen in this photo to the right.
The newer dresser was destined to go into the dining room — I need more space to house cloth napkins, tablecloths, placemats, other doo-dads. But white wouldn’t work in here — it had to be black.
So dropcloths went down and sanding commenced. In just three days, these two pieces of furniture had been completely transformed and given new tasks within our home.
I love the outcome — of both pieces!
Here’s how I did it:
1) Start with clean furniture. Wash the wooden furniture with a damp rag (mild detergent if needed). Dry completely.
2) Sand. An electric sander is recommended for many reasons, but it will only do the large, expansive areas well. The smaller grooves and edges will need to be sanded by hand with sandpaper. Sand, not necessarily to remove all former paint and/or varnish, but to procure a smooth surface, ready for accepting new paint. Here is where you can sand down the wood to lessen gouges and scratches.
3) Clean sanded dust off of the furniture. I used a combination of damp rags (again), a vacuum hose, and microfiber dust cloths.
4) Buy quality paint specifically made for wooden furniture. I used General Finish brand, available at WoodYou stores and other locations.
5) Apply thin coats of paint; exact number of coats differs from piece to piece. Several thin coats will wear much better and be more likely to chip than one or two thick coats. I used a large foam brush, but angled, tapered bristle brushes may also be used.
6) Lightly sand between coats (after paint has dried to the touch) using a very fine sandpaper. Use microfiber cloths or rags to clean dust before applying another coat.
7) When the paint finish is uniform, apply a sealer/topcoat. To cover miniscule defects, a satin or semi-gloss finish is best. Two coats is the minimum recommended amount. Let dry between coats, but DO NOT sand.
8) Reapply knobs or add new ones when furniture has cured overnight.
9) Enjoy your new face-lifted furniture!
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