Painting Furniture Without Sanding or Priming

Today I’m sharing another 1-day makeover, this one is SUPER simple, anyone can do it. Here’s to painting furniture without sanding or priming… and the paint still sticks fantastically.  

Get more DIY Dresser Makeover Ideas here.

This dresser was in great condition, to begin with. With no scratches to fill or anything like that.

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Painting Furniture Without Sanding or Priming

1. Remove Hardware
2. Clean
3. Paint
4. Attach Hardware

Supplies Used

• Krud Kutter and Damp Rag
• Heirloom Traditions Paint in Oyster
• Foam Roller
• Paint Brush
• 220 Grit Sandpaper (Optional)
• Tack Cloth

Step 1: Remove hardware

First, I removed the drawer pulls with my screwdriver and set them aside.

Step 2: Clean

Then I cleaned the dresser with Krud Kutter and an old damp rag.

What to Clean With

Krud Kutter does a great job at cutting through oils, and grime, so it’s my favorite cleaner.

But you can use dish soap and warm water instead.

Heirloom Traditions Paint recommends using their Deglosser that deglosses and cleans.

The goal here is to just remove any oils, dust, or grime on the surface since they get in the way of letting the paint adhere well.

Learn more about how to prepare furniture before painting here!

How to Remove Drawers from a Dresser

As I was cleaning, I removed the drawers. These ones in particular needed a quick and kind of hard pull to get them to come off the tracks.

Lay Down Protection

I laid down a moving blanket to protect my floor, and then I was ready to paint.

Step 3: Paint

For this project, I used Heirloom Traditions Paint in the color Oyster.

What Is All in One Paint?

This paint is an all-in-one paint that doesn’t need a primer or scuff sanding to make the paint stick, and it doesn’t need a topcoat.

Learn more about the best paint for furniture without sanding here.

How to Paint Heirloom Traditions Paint

You can spray it, brush it, roll it, or do a combo of brushing and rolling. Whatever floats your boat.

This time, I tried the roller and brush combo.

Check out the best paint brush for painting furniture and the best roller for painting furniture.

See How to Spray All in One Paint here.

So I bought this brush and roller set from Heirloom Traditions. It included a little paint tray which is cool.

TIP! I want to reuse it in the future, so I lined it with some tin foil, so I don’t have to clean it up afterward.

And then I mixed up the paint and poured some into the tray.

First coat of Paint

It took me a few minutes to get a hang of it, but I basically brushed on the paint with the paintbrush, and then I rolled over it with the foam roller.

• This paint dries pretty quickly, even though it was only in the 60s, so I worked in small sections.
• It seemed to work the best when I brushed on a thinner amount of paint, and then quickly went back over it with a drier roller.
• I tried not to push too hard, so I wouldn’t leave lines from the roller’s edge.
• And if there were little bubbles, I tried to roll them out.

This technique definitely leaves some texture behind, which isn’t a bad thing, especially if you’re a beginner, or if you don’t mind some roller texture.

But if you do prefer a texture-free finish, find out how to get a smooth finish here!

Wrap Brush and Tray Between Coats

After the 1^st coat of paint, I wrapped everything up with some tin foil to keep it from drying out before the next coat.

After the 1st Coat of Paint

Here’s what the 1^st coat looked like when it was dry.

It felt pretty smooth on the sides of the dresser. But it was rough on the drawer fronts since they were laying flat and it was kind of windy outside.

There were some larger spots of texture that I didn’t care for.

Sand Texture (Optional)

So I lightly sanded the paint with 220 grit sandpaper to remove those. This part is totally optional and personal preference.

After I got rid of the rough texture, I cleaned the dust off with a tack cloth.

How Durable is Heirloom Traditions All in One Paint?

Real quick, before moving on, I scratched at the paint so you can see how well it sticks.

I scratched pretty hard, and this was only a few hours after the 1^st coat had been painted.

It scratched a tiny bit, which is honestly pretty good after only letting it dry for about 3 hours.  

Second coat of Paint

So, I painted the second coat.

This time I feel like the paint dried faster and my brush kind of drug across the surface instead of gliding like the first coat. But, it worked out just fine.

What Does Heirloom Traditions Paint Stick To?

So, this paint says it will stick to wood, laminate, masonry, leather and vinyl, smooth fabrics, ceramic glass, and metal. It also is UV and water-resistant.

See our Heirloom Traditions durability test on laminate here!

I personally have painted slick laminate without sanding or priming beforehand, and after 48 hours, it didn’t scratch off at all!

Third Coat of Paint

I didn’t feel like there was full coverage after 2 coats though, so I ended up with 3 coats total.

But with 2 hours of dry time between each coat, and me running some errands while the paint dried, I still got it all the way painted between 8 am and 5 pm.

Cleanup

After painting, I cleaned the brush and roller with warm soapy water.

And, I just threw away the tin foil from the tray.

It took about 5 minutes to clean up, and now I can use them all in the future.

Step 4: Attach Hardware

I debated getting new hardware or painting the old hardware, but I wanted this to be a quick, easy and cheap makeover, so I just put the old hardware back on.

It’s not my favorite, but I think it works.

After

And here’s what it looks like now.

Not too bad for what, about $60 worth of supplies?

If you get up close, you can definitely see the texture and you can feel it slightly. It’s not my favorite… maybe I’m doing something wrong haha.

But when you take a couple of steps back, you can’t even see the texture. So that’s awesome.

It does create a perfect, texture-free finish when I spray it… if you have a sprayer.

I’m curious though, do you hate texture or would you rather it instead of brush marks?

Related Furniture Makeovers

• MCM 1-Day Makeover
• Heirloom Traditions Gray Painted Cabinet
• Spraying Fusion Mineral Paint on a Dresser
• Painting a China Cabinet with Wise Owl One Hour Enamel
• Heirloom Traditions Paint Before and Afters

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