Tell me your favorite furniture makeover secrets

Shira
by Shira
I am a painted furniture newbie (I am a newbie about most things DIY) but I love love love the insanely creative painted pieces on Hometalk and don't even know where to start when it comes to painting furniture. So I would like to ask y'all, what tips and tricks can you sharet with me. I'm looking for general advice about everything from finding pieces to paint, the correct products to use, things you wish you knew when you started and color combinations or anything you may want to share. Thank you!!

Here is one of the many projects on Hometalk that inspire me to learn more about doing my own projects!
Leslie D transformed two discarded tables that she found in to beautiful side tables, see more here.
  9 answers
  • Shawna Bailey Shawna Bailey on Dec 12, 2016

    Prepare the surface! Weather that means cleaning it really well or priming it, depends on the furniture or paint. The paint is only going to look good if the piece is prepared beforehand.

  • J.b. kelly J.b. kelly on Dec 13, 2016

    Stay organized .keep track of any hardware u remove and clean/polish it before replacement. If you want a good finish ,then you need a good start,clean ,sand,wipe until the surface is ready for the next step and get friendly with the staff at the hardware store. They can help steer you in the right direction

  • UpState UpState on Dec 13, 2016

    Think.

    Think before painting a great piece that should have the glory of re-finishing.

  • Vjt9282575 Vjt9282575 on Dec 14, 2016

    My daughter is realy into painting furniture and it looks great. She had vinyl dinning chairs that she hated the colour of them ,so she said she was going to paint them. I was very sceptical. But they are amazing you would never believe they were painted. She just used Valpar best emulsion that you get mixed. Then waxed them. And great. Only cost about ten pounds altogether to do six high back vinyl chairs.

  • Mary Coakley Mary Coakley on Dec 16, 2016

    I have only painted a few chairs,I think cleaning the piece is important,gather all your tools together saves time,I do not do any DIY ,you will get great advice here.Good luck with it all.

  • Cindy Hagemann Cindy Hagemann on Dec 16, 2016

    This is not a painted piece, but done with stain not paint. I have done it myself and it is fun. I sanded down my piece, then used a pencil to lightly draw out my design, then used Minwax stain to brush it around the design, you can get darker in some areas the more coats you apply. Good luck and have fun!

  • Car15061607 Car15061607 on Dec 17, 2016

    Carla Herzog

  • Car15061607 Car15061607 on Dec 17, 2016

    E` bellissimo vorrei poterlo fare anche io

  • Kini Kini on Jul 20, 2021

    Don't rush. Take your time. Use good quality brushes and/or rollers for the paint. Not the cheap dollar store stuff. Enjoy the progress, then you'll be happy with the results.