Updating Furniture with Paint

We have a dining room set we got very early in our marriage. The table top is formica- not very attractive, so years ago I painted the table and chairs. What I didn't do then was to put a topcoat/sealer on it, so the paint was starting to erode a bit with use and much wiping. I bought a high-quality topcoat recommended at Hirshfields, and applied three coats. 

After sealing

The chairs are sturdy, but were showing wear and scuffs on the paint. I was tired of periodically touching up the paint, so I decided to intentionally distress them a bit so a few more chips and marks would blend right in. I decided to use an antiquing glaze, which I applied using a dry brushing technique.

Chair before

Chair after

Next, I tackled a smaller set that I'd painted white a number of years ago. The table once belonged to Andy's grandma Margaret, the chairs we assembled from Ikea. I was tired of the all-white look, and it was hard to keep clean (again, I hadn't put a top coat on it) so I decided to try painting it faux driftwood. 

Before

I followed a blend of online instructions, here and here. I put a base coat of Valspar paint in the Behr color "Open Canyon," then I mixed Valspar Mixing glaze with Valspar Harvest Brown on top. I finished with a couple of coats of the polyurethane.

After

After

In October, I drove to Madison to help my daughter fix up a table she'd acquired. It had a few deeper gouges in it that were much lighter than the surrounding finish. My first hope was that we could use regular stain on it, but that very quickly proved it would not work, so back to Home Depot a second time.

I'd read about gel stain but never used it. The table definitely needed more coverage, so I decided to try the Varathane Gel Stain in Kona. The color match with the bottom portion of the table was actually very close, so it ended up being a good choice.

It did take a while to dry, so I started the first of three coats of polyurethane, the same as for the other table projects, at 5:30 the next morning so I could get three coats on before leaving for home. It came out really nicely, and brought some new life to the table.

Addendum:

In Dec 2021 I updated an old twin bed that our daughter used with paint and new pull hardware. I used the same base coat as our dining room table (paint I had on hand) then a mix of Valspar Mixing glaze with Valspar Harvest Brown on top.

Before- note the flower stickers on the end

Before- beat up drawers

After

Aug 2022

Our son is getting his first apartment, and I'm going to put a new guest bed in his room. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on it since it won't get a lot of use. I bought a full mattress set at Original Mattress Company, and found this full bed frame with brass headboard on Craig's for $20. 

I removed the middle section of the finials- too bulbous

I roughed up the brass finish with some steel wool, then spray painted it with 2 coats per side.

$8 at Home Depot

Painting outdoors

End result- I sewed the bedskirt, valances and sham pillows to go with the new comforter cover from Ikea. New end tables for $23 for the pair from K-bid. Canvas prints from Shutterfly

Oct 2022

Will got two end tables from grandma for his new apartment. The tops were pretty beat up, so I sanded and repaired a few spots with glue and wood putty. Then I applied two coats of black spray paint and two coats of matte polyacrylic.

Nov 2022

I bought this folding metal patio set that is a great size for Will's apartment balcony off K-Bid for only $15. It had some mild rust in areas, so I touched it up with a couple coats of spray paint.

Will is happy to work outside on the balcony

April 2024

Our years-old metal firepit is pretty rusty, so I used steel wool to get some of the rust off and painted it all with high-temp flat Rust-Oleum.

Before

After

Our old plastic deck chairs were pretty beat up, too, so it was time for another coat.

After spraying

Our cement pineapple statue was looking rough and a bit moldy, and you could see a distinct line where we glued the top back on after Andy took a spill with it. I bought a tester-sized outdoor acrylic paint in the color 'elephant' and diluted it about 50% with water. Two coats later and it was looking refreshed.