Painted Furniture Ideas & Tips
If you have some old furniture that is starting to get a bit tired, why not give it a new lease of life while unleashing your creativity? Painting your old furniture can be a fantastically easy way to brighten up your home and create some truly individual pieces.
What Furniture to Choose?
The first step in any painting project is to decide what item you are going to paint. Luckily you can pick almost any wooden furnishing piece you own and get a great result, as long as you are careful. Some great choices are wardrobes and chests of drawers as these are large pieces that can have a striking impact on a room.
To properly paint furniture, you will have to remove any existing paint or heavy varnish with a sander. Be aware that picking something that is fully painted will be a big job as you will have to remove all the paint before you can even start. For unpainted pieces, you can simply rough the finish using sandpaper and the paint will adhere correctly.
Freehand Designs
If you’re the creative type, you could consider drawing your own designs on surfaces that you can paint over. Tables are particularly good for this as you have a large surface to work on with stains and paints and a great design on these can lift the style of a whole room.
If you use stains or non-furniture paints for your designs, then you may want to coat your finished design in polyurethane to protect your design and give it a shiny gloss finish.
Stencils
If you’re not so confident in your artistic talents and are still yearning for complex designs then stencils are your new best friend. Stencils can help you quickly create bold vibrant looks, from adding floral flourishes to a chest of drawers, to adding animal designs to the side of a desk. Any by using spray paint it couldn’t be easier.
You can even create interesting designs on a whole surface using materials such as lace as a stencil, or why not try creating your own stencil out of cardboard?
When Less is More
A good design choice when painting furniture is to leave parts such as the top surface on a desk, or the drawer faces in a chest of drawers unpainted. Simply staining and varnishing the wooden surfaces can create an effective contrast to the painted parts and leave you with a truly unique piece, that’s right on trend.
Other Techniques
The best part about painting your own furniture is being able to customise it perfectly to your own style, but why stop at just paint?
Wallpapering parts of your furniture is a great way of adding some contrast to your painted surfaces, while gluing it to the insides of drawers, or even drawer faces, can be a great way of adding detail.
If you love antiques but don’t have to budget for them, then you can also try cosmetically ageing your items. Special crackle paints are available that give an aged look or you can mimic this effect by painting over a coat of damp glue which caused the paint to crack while drying giving an aged look. But remember to test these techniques first before you try them for real!
Get the most out of your furniture and breathe new life into your home with these simple techniques, and for more ideas on upcycling check out our sustainable furniture guide and Pinterest board for more ideas and inspiration.
