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

[everythingtodo]

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!

Smelly draws I have fixed with some gifted jossticks lying inside. Unlit obv. One bad smell obliterates the other it seems.

Most of my furniture is painted junk stuff. I never have much time, evenings really, and I do this. Sand down fairly inexpertly. Two coats of paint, very often fb tester pot emulsion, surprising how far they go really. When totally dry do a good scrub in with wax.

i painted an old pine chest of drws
for my sons room.
it looks fab, we used farrow ball ,cost quite a bit and took ages thou
sanded-wipe-dry
prime-dry-light sand-dry
undercoat- dry-light sand-dry
2 coats of eggshell.-

marking place on thread

we're also in a doer-upper and have run out of cash so am getting furniture from the British Heart Foundation

have bought three (THREE!) sideboards already

[nan]

All depends on your standards.

If you're a perfectionist, you can actually get it professionally sprayed. People often do this for kitchen units that are good quality but ugly colours.

I'm not a perfectionist (by a long chalk) and have had great success with Dulux gloss paints. The gloss seems to last much better than the eggshell, which chips off at the corners (though that could be because I didn't bother to sand first).

We built our own house and spent our budget on all the costly things like bathrooms, tiles, etc so I've been slowly but surely furnishing the house as inexpensively as I can.
If you want a really solid colour look, I would advise using a kitchen/bathroom paint. I discovered quite by accident when painting picture frames, that it gives a really solid colour finish. Rather like the object has been dipped in liquid rubber. Does that make sense? Its not as glossy as gloss and I think it gives a much nicer finish.I have painted some pieces with really intricate carvings and it isn't as thick as gloss.
Another option if you don't want a shabby chic look, is to undercoat with emulsion in the same colour as your finish. Do few coats, sanding lightly between each and then do the final layer with spray. It gives a really smooth finish.
I would never pay big money for paints, you are honestly just paying for a name. I've used car spray, metal paint and everything on furniture. I always keep a look out in the clearance section of DIY shops as you get paint for really reduced prices and you can build up a collection of colours for when you need them.
I have a good few of my projects featured on my blog which is kind of a journey of where the house is going.

the best way to remove wax is with citrus based Krudkutter Original and a kitchen scouring pad. No neutralising and eco. If you find my site there should be plenty of references on there. or just google krudkutter, you can buy online

Sorry I tried posting a detailed reply and it got wiped. Oh well, basically, chalk paint is easy to overthink. Just clean off any dust and whack on the first coat with a good synthetic brush like a Wooster FTP. Have a cuppa and then put the second coat on, slightly thinned. A couple of hours later, wax it buff it, sand it then topcoat of wax and buff it.

Priming with other primers, or cleaning with white spirit or sanding may just cause issues and are completely unnecessary, if using chalk paint. I use it a lot, I get paid quite a lot for doing it,(there are some tricks to make a really professional job not really related to the cjalk paint per se), but fundamentally, if you are DIY and you like a flat painted waxed surface or a distressed waxed surface, just go straight for chalk paint, especially if time is short.

Use a roller

I painted my daughters varnished pine bed about 15 years ago with ordinary blue matt emulsion. It's still on there - cheap and easy to do, doesn't chip off like gloss paint. I always use matt emulsion on radiators too as I like them to blend in with the walls.

I did some bedroom furniture with Annie Sloan. It certainly looks shabby and that was not my plan. Not durable at all.

Used Annie sloan paint and wax with awful results - used too much wax essentially but found the whole project a ball ache. Furniture looks greasy, patchy and shit.
Want to try and rescue the furniture somehow - thinking of starting afresh with farrow and ball eggshell- question is - can you paint straight on to an over waxed surface with F&B(I am guessing not!) - what would be the best way of preparing surface from here ? Sanding down ? wire wool? White spirit.

Any tips greatly appreciated!

Oh - it was on wooden furniture - a wardrobe, chest of drawers and a bookshelf

I've used both chalk paint and satin wood on furniture with good results. I used the chalk paint on an Ikea Billy bookcase. I do thin it down quite a bit and use a mini roller when I can as I prefer that finish. 2 coats of chalk paint then Matt wax and buff. I've used liquified Briwax and Annie Sloan but you only need a little.

OP, if I were you I'd rub down your chairs and start again with satinwood, eggshell or something. I did large pine wardrobes with satinwood and it's been great. Or you could use shellac under the paint to stop bleed through? Have a google for shellac - it dries quickly and won't hold you up. Consider aerosol spray too if you can get outside on a dry day. I've used rust oleum before and the finish has been very durable.

With the satinwood, I rubbed down, removed dust, rubbed over with white spirit and wire wool, undercoat, 2 x top coat. It was a bit lengthy but the finish was lovely and has been robust.

If you want to have another go with chalk paint, rub off everything you've done and the original finish, quick coat of shellac, then a thinner coat of ASCP applied with a mini roller then a top coat. If you don't want to wax, then you could spray a polyurethane top coat. I've done this on ASCP successfully.

I'm liking the idea of kitchen and bathroom paint too as I've not tried that.

Good luck. I'd love to know how you get on

I'd sand down and start again. Satinwood might work better than chalk paint if you want a more even look. It sounds like you've used too much wax.

I've used chalk paint on chests of drawers and a wardrobe that now look great (were very ugly before) but it has been less successful on items that get more use (a door and a coffee table)

F&B eggshell is rubbish IMHO. Scratches very easily.