Not Just Like New – Better Than New!

by Two Chums on July 19, 2012

One of the things I have come to enjoy over the years is painting furniture. There is a real satisfaction in being able to take an old and tired piece and make it truly better than new.
With a few coats of primer and paint you can give just about anything new life. Then if you take the time to add an embellishment of something stenciled or hand painted

or maybe ‘marbelize’ it ….well you’ve just increased the beauty and value that much more.

When Jackie and I had our little shop called CHUMS many years ago, we often “rescued” some beat up looking old furniture piece….a bed, a dresser, sometimes a chair….and after giving it a fresh coat of paint (which was very often it’s first coat of paint) I would add some flowers, or if I was really ambitious, do some trompe l’oeil painting of a pair of glasses or a book or a pocket watch.

Trompe l’oeil is French meaning to “fool the eye”, so something painted on a desk top or the top of a dresser is done in a way to look like a real object left on the surface of the furniture. It takes a fair amount of practice to achieve a realistic look but what a triumph when you do finally achieve it! I am far from great at this, but I must admit I enjoy playing with it.

Usually however, when we were getting something ready to sell in the shop, I just added some painted lattice or a bunch of flowers and vines. That is something anyone can do with only a little practice. Just look at an illustration of some flowers in a botanical print and practice copying it or you can take a look at this tutorial video I found on line, which will help you get started as well. I make my roses a bit differently than this video shows, but this is good info and if you are wanting to try to paint some flowers on a piece of furniture this will be very helpful.

We have an old bar that is very useful when we are hosting a party outdoors in our garden or on the patio. The bar has “lived” on the patio for many years now and had become very worn.

After a particularly bad rainstorm we had a few months ago it got really wet, even though it is under an overhang, and consequently it had begun to chip and peel badly. It was ready for some paint and the opportunity to be better than new!

Our housekeeper, Maria, agreed to help me with the prep and basic painting of the bar. We happen to be having some painting done on our house right now and our painter, John*, gave Maria a quick tutorial about prepping and sanding to get the piece ready for painting. This little video I caught of him showing her what to do will be helpful to see and if you happen to speak Spanish that’s a bonus:)

The most important step is giving new life to an old piece of furniture is the prep work. It really doesn’t matter how good the quality of paint is that you use, or how lovely the handpainting you do is, if you haven’t prepped the piece properly it just won’t hold up and you will have wasted your time and money.

After you have sanded well, the next step is to prime the piece. There are two kinds of primer…latex which is water based, and enamel, or oil based. If it is going to be an outdoor piece it is especially important to use an oil based primer, but I use it for indoor projects as well. It just seals the wood well and usually means your paint will last that much longer.

After the bar was well sanded and had been primed it was painted black in a semi-gloss oil based enamel paint from Dunn-Edwards. I guess I am in a new “black” phase, as I have just had the shutters on the house and garage , the front door, and all the iron work painted black, and I’m loving it!

When it was completely dry, about 2 days later, I added some embellishment of roses and vines on the panel of the center door

and brushed gold leaf paint around the raised moulding.

So in just a couple of days and for less than $50 dollars my old bar went from trash

to treasure!

Take a look around your home, i’ll bet there is something there that could use a ‘lift’. Or maybe you need a piece but haven’t found the right one or can’t afford what you think you need. If that’s the case head to your local Salvation Army Thrift store or any second hand store that carries furniture. Then let your imagination run away with you. Imagine what that old piece of furniture could look like completely transformed. And think about how great you’ll feel when you’ve done it all yourself!

You are going to love your restored to “Better Than New” piece of furniture. You will know the joy and satisfaction of doing it yourself, and it is sure to brighten up your home and add to all the abundant living that goes on there….enjoy your work and allow me to say in advance…Well done!