How to Paint Furniture: A Beginner's Guide

hey guys so today's video is a little bit difference in the previous videos that I've shared on my channel this is not a DIY build video but this is a tutorial for how to paint furniture if you're new here welcome I'm Erin Spain and I love it if you would subscribe to my channel and click the bell icon to be notified of my future videos now several years ago I wrote a blog post about this topic and to this day it is my most popular blog post it's the one I get the most comments and questions about so I thought it might be helpful to create a video about it so today I'm gonna go over my technique for how I get the smoothest most professional looking finish possible when I am painting furniture okay before we get started there are a couple things I want to get out of the way first of all I know there are a lot of wood purists out there who are completely anti painting wood period and I get it there are several pieces I would never even consider painting but if that's you and you are completely anti painting furniture you're in the wrong place now there isn't just one right way to do this but this is the technique that I have found works best for me okay that said let's get started okay I'm going to use this bench to demonstrate my technique so I will show you how I painted it but step one is to prep your piece so this is where a lot of projects go wrong because a lot of people do not take the time to prep their surface properly and this is going to determine how smooth your paint finish ends up looking as well as how durable the finish ends up being the first thing I like to do especially if a piece has been in storage and is covered in dust or conquer cobwebs or whatever is to give it a good cleaning with Murphy's Oil Soap I fished this bench out of my basement to use for demonstration purposes and it was covered in dust in cobwebs my camera decided to magically eat the footage of me cleaning it chalk that up to being a YouTube newbie but it's pretty self-explanatory just dilute the Murphy's Oil Soap in water and use a cloth to clean the entire piece this is safe for finished wood and it really helps you get a nice clean surface to start with if your piece isn't that grimy or dirty then a quick wipe down with the cloth should suffice here I'm using it to clean my workbench but you get the idea first I use wood filler to patch any holes or nicks and also to cover any knots that might leave through later on I use cheap framing lumber to build this bench so your furniture likely won't have this many knots if any to worry about but if it does wood filler generally does the trick I allow it to dry according to the directions on the container which may vary depending on brand also if your furniture has any hardware or attached to it this would be the point where I would remove that and set it aside next I stand it with a sanding sponge if you used wood filler to patch holes or knots then sand that smooth and then just lightly sand the entire piece whether you use wood filler or not you don't have to put a ton of effort into this the goal is just to rough up the surface enough for the paint to have something to grab on to you don't have to sand all of the finish off and you don't have to spend a lot of time doing this you just want to dull the glossy finish a bit so the paint can adhere more easily and so it doesn't slide right off sometimes I use a sheet of sandpaper to get into nooks and crannies but you don't have to worry too much about that I get a lot of messages from people stressing because they can't stand very well in the crevices and it really is not a big deal and not something you need to stress over next wipe it down and get all the dust off from sanding you can use a wet cloth or I really like to use a tack cloth which you can get at the hardware store it's a waxed cloth and the dust will stick to it so you can just wipe it over the surface of your furniture and the dust will come right off okay now that the piece has been prepped it's time to prime I use a combination of a mini foam roller and an angled brush to apply my primer and my paint the brush is helpful for getting into the crevices and then I use the roller for the rest make sure that your foam roller refills are made for smooth surfaces and it should specify that on the package I like to keep popsicle sticks handy to use a stir sticks and you can buy those in bulk at the craft store I usually like to use a separate stain blocking primer even if my paint has primer included I generally use kills or Zinser interior latex primer I usually stick with water-based primers and paints which is just a personal preference but some people like oil-based better I just can't stand the fumes and I'm usually able to get a good finish with water-based so it works for me and I also find it helpful to place pieces of scrap wood underneath whatever I'm painting to elevate it off the ground a bit so it's easier to paint the bottom edge the key here is to apply thin coats both of your primer and your paint I only use one coat of primer and then I allow that to dry completely after my primer has dried I come back in with my sanding sponge and lightly sand the whole thing again you just want to buff out any brushstrokes or roller marks or sand off any drips that you missed but you don't want to sand the primer off just a light pass with the sanding block should suffice I go back in with my tack cloth and remove all of the dust and now we're going to repeat the process but this time with paint the key is to apply multiple thin coats as opposed to one thick coat applying thin coat sanding in between really does produce the smoothest possible finish my go-to brands of paint are Behr marquee and Benjamin Moore and for this bench I'm using Behr marquee in the color tricorn black I also typically use a satin or semi-gloss finish for furniture the glossy or the finish the easier it is to clean which is why I never ever use matte finish paint on furniture it is extremely difficult to keep clean I repeat the same process brushing the crevices and rolling the rest keep in mind this is your first coat so you will see roller marks and you won't get a completely opaque finish just yet and that's okay in between coats of paint I like to wrap my roller and brush in plastic wrap to keep them from drying out and then I can just unwrap them and use them again for my next coat I also cover the paint tray with plastic wrap let that first coat dry and then once again go in with your sanding block and quickly smooth it out then wipe the dust away with your tack cloth I usually end up applying a total of one coat of primer and two coats of paint although depending on your paint you may need three coats so now this is the final coat of paint I'm applying it the same way brushing the crevices and then rolling on a thin coat this time I won't sand when I'm done I get a lot of questions about whether or not you should sand between your final coat of paint and your top coat and the answer is no after my second and last coat of paint has dried it's time to add a top coat for protection my two favorite top coats for painted furniture are Minwax polycrylic which I usually apply with a brush and Minwax finish paste wax in natural you can use polyurethane if you prefer a super durable oil-based finish in which case I would use satin wipe-on poly but I prefer to use that for stained furniture not painted furniture for this project I'm gonna finish it with paste wax here's how I apply it I wear gloves since this can get messy and then I apply it through a couple layers of cheesecloth I just rub it on through the cheesecloth and then allow it to sit for about 10 to 15 minutes per the instructions on the can at that point I can go back in with a clean cotton cloth and buff it to as shiny as I want it then I allow it to cure completely before using it now just a quick note you can always use a paint sprayer to apply your paint but I usually don't do that unless I'm painting a lot of furniture or a very large piece because I despise the cleanup that comes with that but of course it is an option here are some examples of other pieces of furniture that I painted in the past and I will link to these in the description box below I hope you found this tutorial helpful if you did please give it a thumbs up and share it with a friend or on social media if you think others might find it helpful too thanks so much for watching and now here are the outtakes I post and there goes a car [Applause] pieces I would never even consider painting [Applause] all right cars it doesn't have to be perfectly okay the first step for getting the most out of a look and as smooth as a level look that so many people don't take time to prep tight cars I mean it is not even rush hour this is where a lot of projects finish what is wrong with that idea man okay you can connect with me online at Aaron Spain calm and on social media at air in Spain blog in the meantime please check out some of my other videos see you next time

Channel: Erin Spain

Views: 364,222

Rating: 4.9569387 out of 5

Keywords: DIY, making, home decor, interior design, decorating, diy projects, diy project, howto, painting, paint, furniture, tutorials

Id: JAJt8Tsn5yQ

Length: 8min 36sec (516 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 23 2020