French Polishing and Bespoke Furniture
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.
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 .
WHAT TO DO Use your screwdriver to remove drawers and hardware. Sand the surface. After sanding, wipe down the surface with a damp cloth to remove any dust or residue. Apply a primer . Allow 2 hours for the primer to dry. Apply your paint exactly the same way you applied your primer .
Good quality bonding primers will often state ‘no sanding is necessary’ and will stick to glossy surfaces like glass, tile, metal etc. The really good primers do cost a little more but are well worth it. If you use a good quality primer prior to painting with a reputable paint, sanding may not be necessary.
These tips will help you minimize your brush strokes and remove distractions from the smooth, professional finish of your piece. Use the Right Brush for your Paint . Use Good Brush Technique. Paint in the Same Direction as the Wood Grain. Lightly sand in between each coat of paint and after final coat.
In fact, when you do the first coat, it should barely look like you ‘ve even primed . Let the primer dry for ten minutes or so (depending on the weather and manufacturer recommendations), then do another coat. Let that coat dry before doing one or two more.
Use a coarse sandpaper, a sanding block or a power sander to strip the finish off the surface. Sand until the surface is smooth and most of the shiny surface is gone. Once the majority of the old finish is off, switch to a medium grit sandpaper and continue to remove any patches of finish still sticking to the wood .
The Kilz brand makes a line of primers and paints designed for all types of surfaces. Priming furniture with Kilz is simply a matter of preparing the surface first, then brushing or rolling the primer over the 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 .
Prime it. Prime using a mini foam roller, and use a foam brush to get into any hard-to-reach areas. Let the primer dry according to the instructions on the can of primer . Once it’s fully dry, sand away any drips with a 220-grit sanding block, and wipe your piece down with a tack cloth.
Sanding after applying primer should help keep your surface as smooth and flat as possible, eliminating brush marks, or extra little globs. Also when painting, like others have pointed out, can raise little fibers from the drywall, going over the surface with a sheet of sandpaper can help get rid of those lose fibers.
Sanding your door well, before priming and painting, is the right way to do it. Sanding will create a smooth surface that will help your paint to look great. When sanding , do a first pass with 100-150 grit sandpaper then finish with a second pass of 180-220 grit sandpaper.
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.
A lot of folks make the mistake of sanding to either too fine of a grit or not fine enough before applying stain . Too fine and the wood won’t be able to accept the stain . Too rough and the wood will be very dark almost to the point of being black.
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.