Painting pine furniture

[withouttea]

We’ve got a pair of really ugly knotty pine chests of drawers. These date from an Ikea haul in 1998 before my first marriage (that makes me feel old) - so they aren’t anything fantastic. But somehow I love what they do - they are solid and hold so much stuff. We are renting at the moment and probably won’t buy again for a couple years yet, so I need to make these do for now - we aren’t in the ‘forever’ house. But they’re so ugly! What was my younger self THINKING?!

Are they paintable, do you think? I like light colours and my ideal, money-no-object house style would be Diane Keaton’s beach house in Something’s Got to Give.

I’m quite handy at DIY so willing to have a go. What do you think? What would look good?

[OakFlooring]

I’m no expert but have just painted a bedside table with Annie Sloan paint. It’s not perfect but a huge improvement so go for it

[caprifun]

Sand them, paint them but leave the top natural and oil it with Danish oil or similar,and change the knobs for something more modern, and they'll probably look lovely.

[Mycarsmellsoflavender]

As caprifun said. Sand it lightly first so that the paint has something to stick to. I would leave the top unpainted too.

Of course, in 20 years time, the shabby chic look will be the equivalent of an avocado bathroom suite today and you'll end up sanding it all off again!

[withouttea]

Thanks everyone! Leaving the tops natural is a great idea - they'd get grotty and scratched anyway with all the stuff we keep on them (I am only pretending to be tidy in my pic - all the crap got shoved on the bed).

Is it best to use Annie Sloan paints then?

I hope I don't STILL have these in 20 years time, but I suppose you never know! My (elderly) neighbour was teasing me about the amount of knotty pine in my house earlier. I'm behind the times. These are just the beginning!

[caprifun]

I've never used Annie Sloane, but have heard good things. I use a dulux trade wood primer as a base coat with a farrow and ball top coat, I think its satin finish, which seems to work well and is quite durable. Without you're not alone with the pine, I have a large bookshelf looking dated in the corner waiting to be painted. Post some after pics when you're done, I'd love to see the transformation!

[ItsAllABitStrangeReally]

Sand, prime and use furniture paint.

It's a lot more durable than pappy chalk paint which chips easily.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

I use b&q premium colours emulsion, you don’t need to prime if you use dark colours (I’ve never tried white on wood but it might be ok). It gives a great coverage and is about a pound a pot rather than AS which is very much more expensive.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

This is my latest

[caprifun]

ooo that's nice Averagebear

[withouttea]

That looks gorgeous!

I sprayed an old lamp base today as a warm up...it looks so much better now. Thanks everyone for the encouragement.

[EnidButton]

What was my younger self THINKING?!

Your younger self was thinking it was 1998! We have away an identical set of drawers just last year. They'd sat in the spare room unloved for years. Bought by DH from ikea in the late 90's!

If only I'd thought to ask about painting them. 😩 They're a good sturdy set of drawers. Hopefully whoever got ours has given them a new lease of life and they're still being used.

That looks brilliant Average! How did you do the top part? Is it a stain or a wax?

I have a very old writing bureau being used as tool storage in the garage that I keep wondering about sanding down and painting.

[EnidButton]

Have = gave

[carriewintermeadow]

I have the same drawers! Umm about to paint the fronts white and put new knobs on.

[carriewintermeadow]

*I'm ..

[EnidButton]

Dammit, DH was right, we should've kept them!

[Polkadot1974]

By sand do you mean with paper just to take too layer off? My whole set of bedroom stuff needs updating but it’s such a big job I’ve avoided it!

[Furball]

The good thing about annie sloan / chalk paints is that you don't need to prepare anything, you just slap it on.

[ElanorGamgee]

I would go for a low sheen eggshell rather than trendy chalk paint. My local builders merchant mixes farrow and ball colours into the leyland paint range. I recently chose an oil based eggshell in a f&b colour for some furniture.

Oil based is much harder wearing. Just smells more when painting.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Enidbutton thanks. It’s actually stained, but on a better conditioned piece, wax would be enough. You won’t believe it but I found this covered with a tarpaulin in the garden of our house when we moved in. It took 6 Months drying out in the shed, and then several attempts at stripping the lacquer with Rustins and a sharp knife. There is quite a lot of mildew staining in the surface of the wood where it’s been wet, so I had to stain with the very dark brown. I only decided to save it because the shelves fit my laundry baskets and I had visions of a beautiful tidy utility room!!

[withouttea]

I've been asking around about painting and it turns out my friend has done a few pieces. The Annie Sloane paint was easy - she says she just wiped the dust off and slapped it on. BUT she couldn't be bothered to wax it and now it's very scratched. Pretty colour though - a nice sage green. She also did a bookshelf for her son in a dark blue - and that on was properly prepared, sanded, primer, then a dulux interior wood (two coats). It looks nicer than the Annie Sloane, with an attractive satin sheen, but it's a bit 'tacky' - his books seem to stick slightly to it.

My inner lazy cow is quite fancying the slap it on option, but not for this chest of drawers, it's too likely to chip. Or is proper waxing doing to seal it adequately? Anyone have experience?

[ElanorGamgee]

Only of painting with eggshells.

I used to buy F&B eggshell, the one with less sheen whichever that is, I think it might have been the floor paint from memory.

I liked the eggshells but not the emulsion. F&B let their patent lapse for a week or so which allowed their colours to be analysed and recreated by anyone with a mixing machine.

I now have their colours mixed into trade paints, dulux, leyland, another one I can't remember the name of. The colour range is fab but I found the paints didn't wear as well as dulux trade on the walls. Much cheaper too, generally half price of F&B.

Not sure why paint would be tacky tbh, none of mine is.

[Halifax1]

Rustoleum paint is cheaper than Annie Sloan and in my opinion better.
Homebase sell it and other DIY places.

[4yearsnosleep]

I much prefer Rustoleum furniture paint to Annie Sloane. My OH did our fireplace in their satin and it looks amazing

[withouttea]

Morning. I decided to do a test run with more of my ugly pine furniture. I've a pair of equally ugly but practical bedside tables dating from the same Ikea haul in 1998. I thought I'd try out chalk paint on these, and eggshell on the chests (funnily my exh popped round yesterday with our daughter and couldn't believe I still have them! Maybe I hang on to stuff - but I'd rather reuse things if I can).

Anyway the chalk paint was very easy. I sugarsoaped them, then did two coats of paint. Now I need to sand and wax.

I think it's a particular 'look' - I quite like it, but I am feeling sceptical about how hard wearing it's likely to be. On the plus side, the colour (duck egg blue) is gorgeous and will look very pretty in our bedroom.
I've attached a work in progress picture as of this morning (with a vision showing the colour scheme from the bedroom) and a before picture. Sorry - the light is awful in the picture.

I'll try eggshell next! The chests get a lot of use so I need it to be a reasonably tough finish.

[withouttea]

*cushion, not vision!