Happy Monday, friends! I have a brand new DIY post for you (hooray!)
My sister Alexis recently bought a house AND had a baby, so while moving and decorating a nursery, she discovered that she had a couple pieces of furniture that she wanted to update.
Given that I like to paint things, I offered to help her refinish two of her pieces — an old wooden tea cart and painted wood dresser:
To start, we sanded the pieces down (a quick sanding, since y’all know how I really feel about sanding things…) Also, there’s little else that’s more amusing than seeing a 9-months pregnant woman wielding a power sander. (The fact that she kind of went into labor the next day may or may not have been a coincidence…)
After the beasts were sanded, we wiped them down with a clean cloth, and had our men step in to help me prime and paint (because really, they weren’t doing anything, and an almost-mama has no business being around paint fumes — so she got to hang out on the couch.)
The pieces got primed:
I used a new primer this time, hence why it’s gray. I picked up KILZ MAX®* at Home Depot and had the people working the paint counter tint the primer gray since we were going to be painting these pieces dark colors. (Awesome that you can tint the primer, right? Makes covering the piece with your desired paint color sooo much easier.) And you guys know how much I love primer. I mean, don’t even think about painting furniture without it!
We let the primer set for about an hour, then got to painting the pieces.
Alexis chose a woodsy sage green for the dresser (to go in le bébé’s nursery) and a dark navy for the cart, which now lives in their family room.
I didn’t actually get to photograph the finished pieces until the day Alexis was in labor at the hospital, so I may have been a little distracted — I apologize if these pictures aren’t my best work.
And how cute is that little wooden elephant? It was a present from me and KC (we got it while traveling through Scotland earlier this year).
I think the green is quite an improvement on the teal/white combo:
The dilapidated tea cart got new life with it’s new navy coat:
Let’s just ignore the painters tape on the wheels… Remember, my sister was in labor when I took these, so I really couldn’t focus on anything but that!
The how-to is down below!
How to Paint Painted Furniture
What you’ll need:
- Piece you’re painting
- Sandpaper (we used medium grit 100)
- Optional: electric sander
- Clean dry cloth(s)
- Optional (but recommended): drop cloth
- Primer (we used KILZ MAX* and had the paint counter tint it gray)
- Paint (we used semi-gloss indoor paint)
- Paint brushes
- Optional: finisher like urethane to seal the surface
- Sand all surfaces of the piece that you’ll be painting (a once-over is fine. You just want to rough up the surface a bit so the primer adheres to it.)
- Wipe down the piece with a clean dry rag to remove all dust and debris.
- Paint 1-2 thin coats of primer, allowing at least an hour between each coat to dry.
- Once well-covered, paint 1-3 thin coats of your paint, until the piece is fully covered (allow an hour between each coat).
- Allow the piece to cure for at least 72 hours, then you can finish the surfaces with urethane, if desired (helps defend against wear and tear for surfaces that get a lot of use).
*This post was sponsored by KILZ MAX, but all opinions are my own.