Painting Finished Furniture
If the finish on your furniture isn’t something you love anymore, painting finished furniture is a great way to give it a fresh new look! With just a few coats of paint, you can completely transform the style and feel of your furniture.
With the proper techniques and these painting furniture ideas, you can make your finished piece match your current home decor or even change up the style completely. Let’s explore how to paint finished furniture together!
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See more AFTER photos below these printable instructions!
Painting Finished Furniture
Here’s our guide if you have finished furniture that you want to update with paint and learn the process and techniques we used for painting finished furniture.
Materials
Tools
Instructions
- Prep your furniture by cleaning it with a degreaser and let it dry completely. This step is important because the paint won't adhere well to a dirty surface.
- Lightly sand the surface with a fine grit sandpaper to create a better surface for the paint to stick to. Don't sand too aggressively, just enough to scuff up the finish. Clean up the dust afterwards.
- Prime the surface with 3 coats of clear shellac primer to prevent any stains from bleeding through, especially for darker woods like mahogany that tend to bleed. Let each coat dry for at least an hour.
- Create your own chalk paint using a mixture of latex paint, calcium carbonate powder, and water. Pour the mixture into the paint sprayer through a paint filter to remove any clumps or impurities.
- Apply 3-4 coats of chalk paint with the sprayer, letting each coat dry before applying the next one. It may take more coats if painting a light color over dark wood.
- Lightly distress the painted surface with a fine grit sandpaper to create a vintage look. You can distress the edges and corners or do an overall light sanding, depending on the look you want. Clean up the sanding dust before moving on.
- Seal the painted furniture with a protective topcoat, such as waterbased polyurethane, using the sprayer. Apply 3 coats and let each one dry before adding the next. Let it cure for 24 hours before using the furniture.
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More Before and After Makeovers
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Click any of these “before” photos below to view the “after” of that makeover.
Our finished piece was a beautiful mahogany end table, but our customer wanted to give it a fresh, bright color. The finish on this mahogany piece showed off its natural wood and looked amazing, but a bit of change can be nice sometimes.
Painting can definitely switch things up with the many colors available. You can use bright colors like we did to give your furniture a fun, vibrant look, or go for something more subtle with neutral or dark colors. Check out these best painted furniture colors to help you decide on a paint color for your furniture.
So, if you have finished furniture you want to update with paint, keep reading to learn the process and techniques we used for this project. We’ll also share tips and tricks to make your painting experience go smoothly and give you the best results.
Supplies Used for Painting Finished Furniture
- Krud Kutter
- 220 Grit Sandpaper
- Tack Cloth
- Shop Vacuum
- Clear Shellac
- Behr Paint in Heavy Cream
- Calcium Carbonate Powder
- Paint Sprayer
- Paint Filter
- Varathane Waterbased Polyurethane
Prepping Finished Furniture
First, before painting your finished furniture, you’ll want to make sure it’s clean and free of dirt or grime. We wiped our piece clean with Krud Kutter and let it dry completely – this step is important because the paint won’t adhere well to a dirty surface.
Once the furniture was clean and dry, we lightly sanded the surface with 220 grit sandpaper. This helps to scuff up the finish and create a better surface for the paint to stick to. Be sure not to sand too aggressively, or you may damage the finish or wood underneath, and clean up the dust afterward with a vacuum and tack cloth.
Our guide on how to prepare furniture for painting goes into more detail on the prep process so your furniture is ready for a smooth paint job.
Priming Mahogany Furniture
Mahogany wood tends to bleed through paint, causing an uneven and unattractive finish. This is true for a lot of wood types, especially darker woods like mahogany. And since we’re painting our piece with a bright color, we needed to make sure these stains don’t come through.
That’s where primer comes in! We primed this one extra good with 3 coats of clear shellac, letting each dry for at least an hour. This primer is very effective at blocking any stains and creating a smooth base for our paint to adhere to.
Shellac primers are the way to go for blocking wood stains – they adhere well and dry quickly, so you can get to painting sooner. Check out your options for the best primer for chalk paint in this post.
Chalk Painting Finished Furniture
We used chalk paint for this project, and to create our chalk paint, we used a mixture of Behr Paint in color Heavy Cream, calcium carbonate powder, and water, following our homemade chalk paint recipe here. Making chalk paint is a great way to save money and customize the color you want for your furniture.
We poured our chalk paint through a paint filter into our Vonforn Paint Sprayer to remove any clumps or impurities that could clog the sprayer and affect the paint finish. While spraying gives a nice, smooth finish without brush marks, we still need to make sure the paint itself is smooth, too.
We sprayed 3-4 coats onto our mahogany end table, with each coat left to dry before applying the next one until we had complete and even coverage. Again, we were painting a light and bright white color over dark wood, so it took a few more coats to get the coverage we wanted.
If you do not have a paint sprayer, you can check out our post on how to chalk paint furniture, where we used one of these best chalk paint brushes to get smooth results with hand painting. And if you’re ready to invest in a sprayer, here are the best paint sprayer for chalk paint options, including the budget friendly Vonforn sprayer.
Once the chalk paint dried, we lightly distressed it with 220 grit sandpaper to give it a slightly weathered and vintage look. When distressing, you can sand down the edges and corners or do a more overall light sanding, depending on the look you want.
You can learn more distressing furniture techniques here, aside from using sandpaper. And here’s how to distress chalk paint for specific tips. Be sure to use a shop vacuum and a tack cloth to clean up the sanding dust from distressing before moving on!
Sealing Painted Furniture
After all the hard work of prepping and painting your finished furniture, it’s important to seal it with a protective coat. The topcoat not only adds durability but also gives it a professional looking finish. For this project, we used Varathane waterbased polyurethane for its clear, satin finish.
Using our trusty paint sprayer again, we applied 3 coats of poly onto our chalk painted end table. We waited for each coat to dry before spraying the next one, and after the last coat, we let it cure for 24 hours before using the furniture. For more helpful tips check out our blog post about can you use a paint sprayer for polyurethane.
You can learn more about the best topcoat for chalk paint here and how to seal chalk paint here so you can make your chalk painted furniture last longer.
So, if you have some old finished furniture that needs a makeover, now you have the know-how to do it! Painting finished furniture can transform your pieces, even if they already have a finish, and you can choose any color to match your style and decor. Remember to prep and prime to avoid any bleedthrough issues, and seal it all in for a durable and beautiful finish.
More Painted Furniture Makeovers
- Vintage Buffet Makeover
- Painting Furniture With Chalk Paint
- How To Paint Mid Century Furniture
- Waterfall Cedar Chest Makeover
Follow us on YouTube to get more tips for painting furniture. Or share your project with us on our Facebook Group and be part of our community. See you there!
