French Polishing and Bespoke Furniture
Can you paint over varnished wood without sanding ? Yes. There are a few ways to do this, but we choose to use an oil based primer to prepare our varnished wood for new paint . The oil based primer will stick to varnished or sealed wood .
Milk paint , which you can purchase as a powder or premixed, or even whip it up yourself at home, is a nontoxic and biodegradable paint option that’s great for use on wood furniture —and if you mix it with an equal part of bonding agent, you don’t need to sand the piece before beginning.
Chalk paint adheres to furniture beautifully without the use of primer and (usually) no sanding. A quick cleaning is typically all you need . With that being said, there’s very rarely a piece of furniture that goes through our shop that doesn’t need some type of prep work before paint .
When You Can Skip Sanding , Deglossing and Priming If the finish on your furniture isn’t damaged or chipping, it’s flat not shiny and you aren’t painting it a drastically different color, then you may be able to just go ahead and start painting . Before painting though, do make sure the piece is clean.
For furniture it’s best to use a satin or semigloss finish in either a latex or an oil-based paint . Never leave primer unpainted. If you choose a latex paint , a latex primer is an excellent choice for most uses. It goes on easily and blocks most stains, but it doesn’t have the odor of an oil-based primer.
Never attempt to paint an existing wood surface without preparing its surface. Applying a direct coat of paint over the old coating will not work and eventually will tend to peel, especially if it has a glossy finish.
Spray painting is an easy way of achieving a smooth, even finish on wood furniture . Whereas painting with a brush can result in drips and brush marks, spray paint can give you a near-perfect look. Like all other materials, wood requires some preparatory steps before the application of spray paint .
acrylic one
First clean with Mineral Spirits… THEN… wipe it down with a rag that is moistened with clean fresh water! Using old towels or t-shirts cut up- I apply a little odorless mineral spirits on it and then wipe down the piece.
bristle brush
Prime gives you a smooth and even surface to start your project, it also gives you the ideal surface for paint to adhere to. Without priming, paint peels more easily because it doesn’t easily adhere to the furniture underneath.
If you want to paint over gloss with gloss there’s no need to use it. Just give the surface a clean and sand before painting . If you are painting over gloss woodwork with a satin or eggshell finish, you also won’t need to use this primer. Lightly sanding and cleaning will help the new paint adhere.
Sanding a furniture piece should never take more than 5 minutes. When prepping a piece for paint , you are just roughing up the surface slightly so that the paint will “stick”. If the existing surface is shiny, the paint won’t have anything to grab onto.