Painting Tips :: Furniture

Surface Prep
Whether you're painting a wrought iron chair, staining a wood end table, or varnishing a chest of drawers, preparing the surface is the most important part of the project. If the coating doesn't have a smooth, clean surface to adhere to, it simply won't look very good or last very long. You may need to spend more time on surface prep than painting!

First, put your piece of furniture on top of a drop cloth. Then remove all hardware, even if you want it painted. Better to paint the surface under it, and then paint the hardware separately. Now follow steps 2 through 7 in the Interior Surface Prep topic.

Painting
A brush is your best choice for painting furniture, because it will provide the smoothest finish and it can reach into the surface details of the piece. Click here for information about Choosing The Proper Brush. Besides a paintbrush, there are some other unique and helpful painting tools that work well on furniture.

A paint mitt makes painting easy on an intricately turned table leg, wrought iron designs in a garden bench, and other detailed surfaces like pipes, railings, or chains. The Synthetic Mitt from Wooster can be used with all types of paint, and it even has a comfortable thumb so you can easily grasp the object you're painting.

Cleanup Tips
For helpful hints about cleaning your painting tools, visit the Cleanup section. Nice job! Your newly refinished furniture will be a source of pride for many years to come.