Favorite Painting Tips Choose the right piece don t settle Choose the right piece of furniture. Don t settle unless you really enjoy repairing and hunting down pieces and parts on obscure websites. If you really like the entire rehab process then you don t have to be as choosy but I don t want to be working on something for 10 hours before I even start painting it. If you are flipping furniture as a business you really need to analyze what is going to be your threshold for repairs because a bargain with a huge margin can turn into a time-suck that barely covers its own cost. My nonnegotiable are: 1. Solid wood 2. dove-tailed drawers 3. nothing broken 4. small dents/ holes that can be repaired with wood fill 5. NOT mission style (this is purely a style preference but also painting those spindles sucks) Prep Thoroughly. Prep thoroughly. I would rather spend an extra hour prepping than spend it touching up. Once I get the paint on and I can see the piece come to life I do not like wasting time on touch ups. I almost exclusively use CeCe Caldwell s Chalk + Clay Paints products and they do not require sanding before painting but I often do. I sand when there is a good finish (especially a glossy one) left on the piece. This ensures the paint with evenly adhere to the surface and give me predictable results. If the finish is really worn I will just clean it really good with TSP Substitute or hit it with a deglosser. I always remove doors and drawers and any and all hardware and label/bundle the pieces and parts so it can easily be put back together and fit the same. Take the time to shore up the legs and add extra supports where it is showing weakness. When you start painting furniture you will discover that the legs often need tightening/reinforcing. Everyone pulls furniture around their house and this weakens the legs. Fix these issues before you get started for 2 reasons. 1. You don t want to have to touch up paint ruined when trying to fix something and 2. It is really heartwrenching to paint and finish a piece and really love it and then realize you literally CAN T fix the legs and it will either be useless or only stay together for another 6 months.
It s okay to thin the paint if needed! If your paint is too think and/or you are prone to leaving brush marks regardless of your quality of brush it is possible to thin CeCe Caldwell s Chalk + Clay Paints with distilled or purified water. You can also use a product called Floetrol to thin paint and make it less likely to leave brush strokes by giving it more self leveling properties. This is especially useful if you are trying to accomplish a super smooth pottery barn finish. I always thin/ dilute my paint when I use a sprayer. Sprayers are fantastic. Use a sprayer. Seriously. If you are wanting a smooth finish and professional results get a sprayer. It doesn t have to be super expensive (look up some reviews I use one made by Home Right) A sprayer makes the finish completely smooth if done properly like spray paint but with whatever paint you like best like CeCe Caldwell s. There will be sanding. Get over it. Sand. Don t skip it if you need to sand. Just get over it and do it. If you are doing a decent amount of painting get a mini-mouse sander. I have 5 different brands/types of sanders but if I could only have one I would definitely choose to keep the Mini Mouse by Black and Decker for its versatility. Don t buy the cheapest sandpaper you can find. Yes you can get sandpaper at the Dollar Tree for $1. Don t. Splurge and spend $5 elsewhere. Trust me. It doesn t have to be the MOST expensive but don t buy the cheapest. Tack Cloth is magical. Tack Cloth. I am regularly surprised by the lack of awareness about tack cloth and how amazing it is for painting. Tack cloth is cheesecloth with a sticky coating on it so when you are finished sanding and/or between coats of paint and finish you can wipe your piece off with it and it literally grabs all the lint, dust, hair and micro-stuff that gets in your paint and finish and ruins an otherwise perfect paint job. Also use a clean dry paint brush to brush the dust out of trim and carved parts before wiping with tack cloth.
High quality paint brushes totally worth it. High quality paint brushes. I am equally surprised when I read blogs and see tutorials and the teacher says they just use a chip brush for painting. This is not the best way to paint. Ever. I m not saying I never use chip brushes because I do sometimes when it s not important, really, how well the paint goes on and I m too lazy to clean the brush but that s the only time. Except for dusting out the carvings and trim before wiping for tack cloth. Because I use them for that too. If you are about to paint a piece of furniture and you are going to have it displayed in your home and/or you are going to sell it to someone else get a decent brush. Again, it doesn't have to be the MOST expensive, but don t buy it at the Dollar Tree and don t use a chip brush. My favorite are the Furniture Paint Brushes and Synthetic Paint Brushes we sell on Vintage Bette but if you need to get one locally to get your project started then I recommend a fine high-quality synthetic brush by Purdy or Wooster. If you use brush on finishes like Endurance or Satin or any water-based seal or finish by another brand you can usually use the same brush for paint and finish. For wax you will need a brush specifically made for wax. The Premium Wax Brush we sell at Vintage Bette is my favorite but there are many great ones on the market. When waxing I prefer them to be flat and not shaped. There are also some awesome specialty brushes for furniture that I like a lot but investing in a couple of basic shapes/sizes made of high quality material will get you the best results. Disposable food containers and plastic bags are handy. When taking a break to eat or overnight I often put my brush in a sealable plastic bag so it won t dry out. I usually rinse it a bit before doing this but not always. It saves time cleaning brushes. I also use the disposable plastic food storage containers a lot for holding the paint I am working with. It is best not to work straight from the can. CeCe Caldwell s is 100% natural so if the contents get contaminated it can ruin the rest of the paint and it won t store well over time. Fatal spills happen. I dropped a can of Beckley Coal and it splashed all over my newly painted shop cabinets and the floor and the sink. It was a giant mess! More devastating was the loss of more than half of a can of really nice decorator s paint. The containers are also wonderful for mixing custom colors and tinting glazes and a multitude of other tasks. If you are leaving your project for more than an overnight I would definitely recommend cleaning the brushes and letting them dry thoroughly instead of sticking them in a plastic bag.
Paper plates and bowls also handy. I also keep paper plates and/or bowls around. They are great to put under the legs of furniture. Not only does this protect your floor from the paint but it also protects your paint brush from whatever might be floating around on the floor that you don t want in your paint. If you are using CeCe Caldwell s Paints then you don't have to worry about paint staining your floors/carpeting but other brands definitely will. I don t go around spilling paint on purpose or anything but I have never had CeCe s Paints stain anything. Even the Stain & Finish has always cleaned up for me. I wouldn t guarantee this, though, so don t go painting your furniture in your favorite white cashmere sweater Bad distressing will haunt you. Be thoughtful about distressing. Seriously. The fronts of drawers do not generally get distressed naturally over time. The edges do, though, and so do the feet and the corners and any parts that stick out a little further than the rest. Just look at some of your old furniture or look at some really well-done examples. The first time I distressed a piece of furniture a million years ago I distressed a spot on the front of a drawer kind of near the middle. It made me CRAZY to look at it after I realized what I had done. Distressing doesn t happen in the deep recesses of carvings but dust and cleaning product build-up does so get some Aging Dust to add to those areas if that is the look you are going for. The finish is important. Don t skip the finish. Seriously folks. You have come this far. You chose a piece, decided on a color, prepped and cleaned and repaired it. You painted and sanded and dusted and painted and enhanced and distressed. If you are using CeCe s or something similar the color is kind of muted and lighter than what you wanted right now anyway. You need a finish of some kind to bring out the pigment in the gorgeous paint and also to protect your hard work! Don t skimp on this step. Get a good finish. If you are waxing, get a nice wax. CeCe Caldwell s makes the best waxing product on the market in my opinion Waxing Cream. It is way more user-friendly (beginner-friendly) than Clear Wax and way less caustic and awful to work with than any of the conventional waxes you can get at a hardware store. It actually feels nice on your hands and smells fresh and clean instead of
burning your skin and smelling like a factory. My favorite brush on finish is actually made by Ecos and it is amazing. I love their matte varnish. It is very user-friendly, looks fantastic and is super duper durable. I thin it with distilled water by about 25-30%, especially when I am using it over CeCe s or any other chalk-or mineral-based paints. Hardware is the frosting. Hardware. Hardware is the jewelry of your project. It is the accessories. It is powerful. I love shopping for hardware and I have an extensive collection. I get it at thrift stores and the ReStore I buy it at Hobby Lobby and pick it up online. I usually change out the hardware on pieces I restyle but I also usually keep the old hardware for another project (unless I already have some in that style). I also really really like to clean it up and spray paint it. This work really well if you do it right! Check out the How-To for restyling hardware. Drawers are often labeled! The drawers on your furniture are often labeled it s true! Look on the back or bottom of the drawers as you pull them out. Sometimes there is a number then a dash then another number like 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4 this means it is from the piece (2) and it is drawer 1, 2, 3, and 4. This is done in manufacturing (or assembly depending on the furniture you have) and it is awesome. If it isn t then I recommend doing it yourself as you pull it all apart.