Do you have old furniture at home that does not fit with the current style of the house? Antique furniture brings a lot of personality and character never get rid of them! Changing its color is one of the cheapest ways to refresh your home and we can all do it at home by following the guidelines that we share today to paint old furniture.
Do you not have any furniture of these characteristics but would like to incorporate one into the living room or bedroom? Hit up flea markets, visit thrift stores, or browse Wallapop for small jewelry to turn into your next project.
Dressers, cupboards, bedside tables, chairs, trunks…. All of these wooden furniture are likely to become a DIY project this fall. Regardless of their current state, a little work and a lick of paint can turn them into furniture with personality with which to decorate any room. You will only have to follow the following guidelines to achieve it:
Prepare the old furniture
We all want to start painting the furniture right away, however, to achieve a good result the previous work is just as or more important. Whether you are going to use a common plastic paint or an enamel, you will need to take the following steps first.
- Remove hardware of the furniture as well as the knobs and handles of the drawers and doors so that the work is easier.
- sand the furniture with a medium grain sandpaper to remove varnish or wax residue that the furniture may have. It is important to achieve a surface to which the paint adheres without problems. Does the furniture have many layers of paint and varnish? Consider, then, using an appropriate stripper.
- Repair any damage have the furniture. Substitute small pieces for others if necessary and correct surface imperfections with wood filler.
- go back to sanding, this time with a fine grain sandpaper, to achieve a very polished surface if what you want is a more polished and modern finish for your furniture. If, on the other hand, you prefer to preserve the old look of the furniture, just limit yourself to sanding the corrections made with putty.
- remove dust with a slightly damp cloth and let it dry.
- Apply a primer or sealer, if the furniture has never been painted or varnished to seal the pores.
To carry out all these steps, take the furniture to a space that allows you to work comfortably and place a plastic or sheet under the furniture to protect the floor while you work. The more you protect the surfaces near the space in which you are going to work, the less you will have to clean later.
choose the paint
What paint do I choose to paint my furniture? You may be wondering. Latex or acrylic paints in satin or gloss finish are perfect for paint wooden furniture and give them a modern finish.
Do you prefer a matte finish? chalk painting It is probably the most popular for this type of work. Perfect to show the age of the furniture and avoid those annoying traces that the hands leave on surfaces with more polished and shiny finishes.
You will also have to take color decisions And it will be difficult given the wide palette of colors offered by paint companies today. As a general orientation, choose….
- Light colors such as white, antique white or pearl gray if you are looking to bring light to the room or make visually heavy furniture lighter due to its large volume. By painting them this color you will also be ensuring that they not only fit in the room where you want to place them, but also in a very different one in the future.
- Intense colours if you want to draw attention to this piece in the room.
- Dark colors if you want the piece to gain presence or you want to add some drama.
paint the furniture
At last! The time has come to print color on the furniture. Begin by using a thick brush or fine brush to reach the smaller sunken sites of the furniture.
After paint the larger surfaces. To do this, use a large quality brush if you are looking for a coarse and rustic finish and a roller if you prefer a more uniform finish. There are smaller rollers ideal for painting small antique furniture, ask for them at your trusted hardware store!
Both the quality and the covering power of the paint as well as the condition of the furniture will determine if you need one coat or two. Always let the first dry well and then decide if you apply a second.
Once the furniture has been painted and depending on the finish you want to achieve or the level of protection that the furniture requires due to its use, it can be interesting then apply a colorless wax or varnish. The first will provide a more natural finish to the furniture; the second a higher brightness.
Will you dare to paint old furniture now that you know how to do it?