Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Painting old/second hand furniture - is this do-able?

39 replies

everythingtodo · 13/04/2012 17:54

I have primer, can get paint and have some time - my question is, is it worth the bother?

We are just about to complete on a fixer upper house - trouble is we won't have the cash to do what we want until next year (extension, new boiler, basically everything). We have also spend every penny to buy it.

I have a small budget to make it live-able in (think lifting carpets, sanding floors, striping walls, lining paper and cream paint everywhere, tile paint over the bathroom tiles - all of which I can do well).

What we don't have much of is bedroom furniture for the children as moving from fitted. I was thinking of buying some nice sturdy (charity shop) chest of drawers & wardrobes and painting them. I have also inherited some mahogany dining chairs that are really not to my taste and thinking about giving them the cream treatment too for my new Scandi style breakfasting room!

OP posts:
Mandy21 · 13/04/2012 19:53

Yes, we're in a similar position. Its much more time consuming that you think (e.g. when we did cupboard doors in the kitchen). In our case its hard to get a run at the project if you see what I mean (we might have a child free afternoon when we start something, but then only get an hour each evening or so to carry on with it, so you end up living with a half done job for quite a while. The only way round the no money issue though for us. Good luck.

Original poster
everythingtodo · 13/04/2012 20:26

Yes I can see that it may get ball aching - the plus side for me is that we have an overlap with houses for 4 weeks - I have visions of leaving DH with kids and pootling off the the new house in the evening (which is only 5 mins away) and paining whilst listening to Radio 4!! Though probably after the first drawer I will be fed up!

OP posts:
maydaychild · 13/04/2012 21:47

let me know how you get on... this will be me in a month.....

SkinnyVanillaLatte · 13/04/2012 21:52

I used satinwood paint to do the kids bedroom furniture (mismatched hand me downs but very serviceable).
It has chipped off a little - I reckon a layer of varnish over the top would solve that.
I just did the drawers and doors - much easier than doing the whole lot (quite simple really).Your eyes are drawn to the painted bit anyway if you use a bright colour like I did.

fossil97 · 13/04/2012 22:36

My local shabby-chic shop is doing a hard sell on Annie Sloan chalk paint at the moment. It is meant to be good for painting furniture. I've been mugged into buying a tin of paint and the wax but not used it yet - would be interested to know if anyone else has used it? Or I will report back when I've used it.

Jacaqueen · 13/04/2012 22:43

I was just going to say Annie Sloan.

I haven't used it myself yet, but I have been told it is excellent and you dont need to use any undercoat/primer.

I have a whole load of junk furniture just waiting to be transformed.

Original poster
everythingtodo · 13/04/2012 22:48

i was planning on doing quick sand, good clean, 2 coats primer, 2 coats satinwood or simular and possibly mattish varnish on top-so the internet tells me anyway! not come across the chalk paint will look that up thanks.

OP posts:
IHeartKingThistle · 13/04/2012 22:52

Anyone know if you can use the Annie Sloan paint on waxed furniture or do y ou have to take the wax off? And how? Sorry to hijack!

Original poster
everythingtodo · 13/04/2012 23:03

hijack away - i found this earlier and it has a bit about waxed furniture might be crap but i am none the wiser

i dont want the shappy chic french look with the wood showing through - more the clean scandinavian look , nice clean solid colour.

OP posts:
icapturethecastle · 13/04/2012 23:17

Do you have a local auction place, we bought wardrobes etc for our house and you can get bargains. I bought a 60s gentleman's wardrobe for my DDs room for £5 and painted it white - it looks lovely. Also got a great wardrobe for our room that everyone admires. It might take a few weeks of going to the auctions to pick up some things but it is worth it. If you get some 60s danish retro style pieces that are bit nana-ish they can look great with some retro wall paper or painted panels on them - ie here for an quick example it is just hunting them out at good price.

fossil97 · 13/04/2012 23:29

Allegedly IHKThistle you can use it over waxed furniture, I bought it on that premise to paint over some pine wardrobes. It's only shabby/distressed if you sand it back, the pieces they had in the shop looked quite fresh and smart plain painted.

I agree about DCs furniture I'm hoping to pick some up likewise for DS2s room on ebay or the charity furniture shop.

Original poster
everythingtodo · 03/05/2012 14:27

I am now in possession of a tin of Annie Sloan Old White paint - shall report back!

OP posts:
onesandwichshort · 03/05/2012 15:42

The best thing for waxed furniture is something called Finish Remover - I can't remember who makes it but it's with the wood stains and waxes in any big DIY shed. Put it on with a cloth and then take it off with wire wool, and it gets rid of all the wax and polish and so on without too much grief. And the paint will stick much better without the wax.

Smellslikeweenspirits · 03/05/2012 15:48

All our furniture is junk up cycled. I just sand then a couple of coats of whatever egg shell is knocking around

Original poster
everythingtodo · 06/05/2012 19:35

Report is not great Confused. I thought this was the nirvana of furniture paint - the reality is it is like painting with just turning satinwood.

I am finding is really hard to keep a wet edge - the paint just dries so quickly - I'm doing a chair so it is difficult to blend in all the sides iyswim...you have no ability to go over the same bit again to smooth..so it looks a bit dodgy in parts

Only done one coat so far so we shall see - might be okay for the shabby chic look but I was really after a nice clean look... Sad

Am i doing something fundamentally wrong? I light sanded and wiped down before I started and the chair was clean and dust free.

I was £17 a tin and the (late) MIL's dining chair is now irrevocably painted (not badly I hope)!

OP posts:
fossil97 · 06/05/2012 22:23

oh dear Sad that's worrying.

Is a chair too fiddly for a first effort? I haven't used my tin yet.

There is a dearth of detailed instructions, I bet they want you to go on one of their courses so don't post much about the actual painting.

Quite often things look better the next day... I'm a terrible perfectionist and need to be told to lighten up and stop fiddling about on frequent occasions.

Hope you get sorted

Original poster
everythingtodo · 06/05/2012 22:37

Okay been googling i think i need to add water. Just done some more with thinner paint and it is better. Light not good though so stopped myself.

Still having the problem though that if you go over a bit done already it is lifting the paint just like what happens if you go over satin that you did half an hour before - frustrating!

OP posts:
Original poster
everythingtodo · 06/05/2012 22:38

I like things to be perfect too!

OP posts:
maybeyoushoulddrive · 08/05/2012 12:51

Are you having any more luck???

Original poster
everythingtodo · 08/05/2012 12:57

A bit. It dried with some cracking so I did a light sand with a sanding block. I watered down the next coat and it was much better.

The chairs were dark wood and I am getting some seep through - so much for no priming! - think I will prime the next one.

It dries to a very chalky finish which is a bit weird and I didn't realise you then need to do 2 coats of clear wax to seal it. Trying to get hold of some today - problem is stockist is miles away so going to get generic stuff form Homebase - more expense though...

Wishing I had just done bog standard egg shell now tbh, but I have is now so will persevere...

OP posts:
maybeyoushoulddrive · 08/05/2012 13:20

Thanks everythingtodo sounds like a bit of a faff... Hope you end up pleased with it after all your work! I think I'll go straight for the eggshell!

SquishyCinnamonSwirls · 08/05/2012 13:20

I did this with some furniture for dd. The outside and top of the drawers were painted "sail white" and the drawer fronts were done in sparkly blue and sparkly purple. Then a couple of layers of spray laquer over the top. They've done really well for 2 years now and look really good still.

If I have to prime anything then I just do a 50/50 water and pva glue layer.

Original poster
everythingtodo · 08/05/2012 14:19

Well have primed the 3 other chairs. Not at all happy with the one I have already done though - the paint has gone all crazed - going to have to give it another sand! Wish I'd never heard of bloody AS!

OP posts:
educatedrita · 08/05/2012 18:14

I have an old chest of drawers that belonged to a relative. However I don't really use it, as the inside of the drawers smell - a sort of 'old wood' smell'.

Does anyone know how to get rid of the smell?

Original poster
everythingtodo · 10/05/2012 22:59

Baking soda in the drawers - leave for a few days and hoover up might work.

I went and bought some acrylic eggshell iyesterday. Ditching the Annie Sloan after another disastrous try - did another chair, primed first, watered down the bloody paint and it still dried all cakey and cracky and it just does not look good - really, I have had enough of it. Just waiting for the to stop so I can sand down 2 chairs, white spirit the wax off and start again!! Hoping that the eggshell will take okay over the chalk paint otherwise I might just cry Sad!

Wishing I had just left them to rot in the garage....

OP posts: