- An Old, Forgotten Piece of Furniture
- Drop Cloth
- Mild Soap
- Clean Sponge
- Clean Cloth or Paper Towels
- Bucket
- Screwdriver
- Paint Can Opener or Flathead Screwdriver
- Liquid Deglosser
- Lint Free Rag
- Clean, High Quality Paintbrushes
- Oil Based Primer (Use an oil based primer sealer if you plan to spackle holes on the furniture piece.)
- Oil Based Paint
- Urethane
- Resealable Plastic Bags
- Permanent Marker
Picking a Piece of Furniture to Paint
- Check to make sure the piece does not wobble.
- Check to make sure the furniture is made of wood and not plastic, laminate or vinyl.
- Open all drawers to make sure they work right.
- Look for scratches. If there are deep scratches, you may want to find another piece - unless you want the distressed look.
- Don't worry about the knobs. They can easily be changed out for new ones.
Steps for Painting Furniture
- Put out your drop cloth.
- If you plan on installing new cabinet hardware, check to see if the cabinet hardware screw holes line up to where the old ones were.
- If the screw holes don't line up, fill the old holes with spackle. To see how to use spackle, watch the Spackle Video.
- Remove doors and drawers if the furniture piece has them.
- Remove all hardware - knobs or pulls.
- Put the hardware and screws in resealable plastic bags to keep them from getting lost.
- Label each bag full of hardware with a permanent marker.
- Clean the furniture piece with a mild soap and water.
- Dry the cabinets with a clean cloth.
- Rub liquid deglosser on the furniture piece.
- Let the liquid deglosser dry for the time listed on the label.
- Prime the furniture piece using the technique demonstrated in the Painting Kitchen Cabinets Video. If you have spackled the piece of furniture, you must use a primer sealer instead of an ordinary primer.
- Allow the primer to dry for the amount of time suggested on the primer label.
- Paint the furniture piece using the technique demonstrated in the Painting Kitchen Cabinets Video.
- Allow the paint to dry for the amount of time suggested on the paint label.
- Apply a second coat of paint to the furniture piece using the technique demonstrated in the Painting Kitchen Cabinets Video.
- Allow the paint to dry for the amount of time suggested on the paint label.
- If you plan on painting a decorative design, paint it on the piece of furniture.
- Check the urethane label to see how long you should let the paint dry before applying the urethane.
- Wait that amount of time for the paint to dry.
- Apply the urethane to the furniture piece using the technique demonstrated in the Painting Kitchen Cabinets Video.
- Allow the urethane to dry for the amount of time suggested on the urethane label.
- Put the cabinet hardware back on the furniture piece or put on new cabinet hardware.
- Rehang any doors.
- Insert any drawers back into the furniture piece.
- Enjoy your freshly painted piece of furniture.