Anyone who knows me will tell you I love painted furniture! A garage sale find can get an instant transformation from a quick coat of paint. Right now the chalk paint craze is in full swing, aged and distressed to look old and weathered but that is not the kind of painted furniture I am really into. I love a piece with a good clean glossy finish that I have found comes best from a can of spray paint. Gasp! That’s right my friends I use spray paint! I hear a lot of people knock spray paint, which I can understand because I have seen some pretty horrific spray paint jobs, But when done correctly you can get a crisp clean finish you could never get with a brush. I have furniture pieces that I spray painted years ago that have been moved across the country and across the world that are still going strong. Of course I have a few that have gone terribly wrong too (furniture polish residue and spray paint are not friends.)
Sorry! This article is not a tutorial on spray painting furniture, it is actually about the painted furniture itself. I have learned painting furniture can create quite a bit of turmoil especially if you show off the unpainted piece on your Facebook page. There is often a great outcry “Don’t Paint It!” That is fine if you are saying “Don’t Paint It, I want to buy it just like it is.” Otherwise it is just you personal preference. Now I am not encouraging every one to go out and paint their fine antiques but the mass produced furniture of 21st century makes a great palate for a bit of paint and color. I am particularity fond of on the 1940’s Duncan Phyfe and Reproduction French Provencal “Princess” furniture of the 70’s. These pieces have great lines and lots of detail which look great painted. The bonus is they can also be found in abundance at garage/estate sales and on Craigslist for next to nothing in the U.S.
There is another good reason for painting that is often not seen by the viewer of the Facebook photo. Paint can cove a multitude of sins. Many of these mass production pieces are wood veneer which tends to get damaged over time. Some chips can be corrected with wood filler and sanded down so once painted no one is the wiser. This also goes for nail holes or even holes drilled for handles no longer available. My worst case was a little vanity I bought that had been stored in an abandoned house. I didn’t realize until I was driving it home that one of the turned legs had been viciously gnawed on by some sort of vermin. Well once I got it home I was able to reshape the gnawed leg with wood filler and once it was under a coat of paint no one knew the difference. I think this is the same piece that when I posted the before and after photo someone said they liked it better unpainted. Apparently they could not see the gnawed leg in the photo.
So this is my “PRO” Painting rant. Don’t get me wrong I do have wood finish furniture in my home and I adore a Bird’s Eye Maple veneer but there is also a place in this world for painted furniture, and sometimes a really good reason. So paint away my friends and feel free to share your results. I would love to see them.
Here are some fellow bloggers and Etsy retailers with their paint make overs:
