According to California Institute of the Arts’s report, painting a picture is required a lot of skills that need a professional painter to achieve the best results. The same goes for painting furniture, especially with someone who start learning to paint. There are too many complicated tasks that any beginner has to accomplish. To assure 90% success, you must concentrate on three core things: what tool to be used, the creativity, and the surface of your furniture.
Check All Items Before Painting
I will tell the first time I painted furniture myself. It was my father’s old beautiful chair; I did not prepare anything to paint. Although many efforts and time I took, the finished outcome was not like my expectation. I wasted time finding some items such as sandpaper, sealer,…, which interrupted my concentration. Therefore, I recommend you should stock up everything needed before painting. Some required items will be listed below:
- Mask: The first thing you should have, and also the one of the most critical thing is face mask. Because of lots of dust made during the painting process, wearing a mask is necessary to protect your health and enable you to breathe comfortably.
- Sandpaper (power sander): Depend on your work, you can choose sandpaper or power sander. In case you want to save time, power sander is an ideal choice; however, it costs much. If your budget is tight, sandpaper is not a wrong choice.
- Paint sprayer: Nowadays, the sprayer is accessible and available both in stores and on the internet. Instead of wasting all day with the traditional tool, you can choose a good paint sprayer on the web quickly, and even with a meager price.
Sand and Remove Dust
Let’s start painting your furniture. The first step is sanding. Although it takes a lot of time, it is one of the most critical steps that you should not skip. Your painting will become hard if you do not carry out that step. Therefore, try to scrape off your furniture as much as possible. The more effort you take, the better result you receive.
You can choose sandpaper or orbital sander. Each one has its advantage and disadvantage. Sandpaper is the most suitable choice for a rough surface. It has an enormous effect on powerful sanding ability so that the rough surface will flatten easily. However, if you apply sandpaper for a flat surface, the power of this tool is not used effectively and takes so much time.
Unlike sandpaper, power sander is faster for sanding flat surface, and save a lot of time. For orbital sander, it is recommended to start using 80 grit sandpaper to remove all old paint and stain on the furniture. After that, you should adjust to apply 150 grit to finish the remaining until the surface gets smoothy. Next, using a damp cloth to remove all the dust coming from sanding process, and erasing again by dry one to ensure the surface is dust-free.
Choose the Right Place
Remember that the liquid for painting is extremely poisonous, so outdoor is an ideal area when the weather is dry. In a windy day, you have to cover all things near your painting area because the wind can blow up the paint quickly and stick it on other objects. As a result, painting work outdoors should not be carried out on a windy day.
Apply the Right Stroke
There are two favorite strokes: long stroke and short stroke. Long stroke is useful when you paint large sections of wooden furniture. Painting along the direction of the drain of the wood makes your furniture’s surface smoother.
If you are an amateur, you should avoid using short stroke since the final results might end up with terrible painting marks. A long stroke will be more natural for a beginner. Only if you have tried sometimes, or you have skills to control the brush, short stroke is recommended.
Choose a Sealer
Sealer is not compulsory for every painting work. If you repaint a picture frame which always hung on the walls, it is not required to protect with sealer. It is also not needed to include sealer for rarely-touched or partly-touched furniture. For example, for a lamp which is turned off most of the time, sealer is unnecessary. However, what about a kitchen table? Sealer becomes a crucial part to make a perfect-looking appearance for your furniture. You can apply sealer whenever exclusive before sanding.
Using a sealer like another liquid paint, starting with a long stroke, following the grain of wooden furniture, and trying to paint all your object. For wood furniture, I recommend using a 2-time-coated sealer. Remember to start the next coat only after the previous one has dried. For sealer coat to dry thoroughly is about 2 hours.
Everything is done, let’s take off your mask and see your final product. It is like a masterwork, isn’t it? Hope that the above tips can support much of your painting.
Peter Levick
ArchitectI am a licensed architect who is passionate about all things home improvement industries, I have been doing DIY painting projects and have developed lots of experience around home improvement over the 10 years.
