How To Paint Old Wood Furniture

Restoring article of furniture is a cheap style to amplify your style. It is often much more affordable to refinish furniture rather than purchasing new. But sanding is the worst! It is messy, time consuming and tiring. I've refinished forest piece of furniture many ways, simply painting is one of my favorite options! Learn how to paint wood furniture without sanding for a durable finish with these different options.

How to Paint Wood Furniture Without Sanding

Post may contain chapter links where I earn a pocket-sized committee on your purchases at no additional cost to yous.

Can you pigment over forest furniture without sanding?

The number one question I get when refinishing furniture from my Instagram community is, "Can y'all paint over wood piece of furniture without sanding?" The answer is, yes! At that place are actually quite a few ways to refinish furniture without sanding. I'thousand going to use this new Facebook Market find as an instance of my favorite way to pigment woods article of furniture without sanding!

Wood furniture before makeover. — Cabinet Before Refinishing

I've refinished quite a few pieces. Some I've kept wood, and some I've painted, but here are a few ideas if you've wondered how to refinish piece of furniture!

How to Refinish a Cane Armchair
DIY Java Tabular array Restoration
Buffet Makeover
How to Transform a Thrifted Coffee Table

Tin can y'all paint over varnished woods without sanding?

Oft times people assume they tin paint raw forest without sanding, but what nearly how to paint over varnished forest? My marketplace observe had a high gloss varnish on it, and I was still able to paint over it without sanding! That's considering I used a two stride procedure that is my go-to for painting forest furniture.

The degloss and prime philharmonic! Deglosser is a wonderful way to substitute the sanding process. It is a much less strenuous and much faster alternative to sanding article of furniture to remove varnish or lacquer. Combine this pace with priming and you have a beautifully prepared surface for paint to adhere to.

Pigment is my number one go-to for quick and affordable makeovers, and I've put together an unabridged free guide on paint finishes! Make certain to sign up beneath to download this quick reference guide to aid you in all your DIY needs.

Now, allow's run through the process for how I updated this thrifted chiffonier and then I volition share some alternative methods to painting furniture without sanding!

How to paint forest furniture without sanding

Let's walk through this method of painting woods furniture without sanding pace past pace. Equally I was doing this project in my Instagram stories, I had a lot of questions on why I did certain steps and what the reasoning behind them was. So hither'south the unabridged process explained!

ane. Find a sturdy article of furniture with good basic

Have you e'er heard the term, "Good Bones"? When referencing furniture, good bones means that the slice is structurally sound, has adept lines/details and will be a functional piece for your family. As you tin see from the before photo in a higher place, my cabinet is a solid furniture and has very clean lines (aka directly and not ornate) for a modern feeling. The shelving is exactly what I was looking for to brandish my favorite decor and the storage underneath is very functional.

This is the showtime stride in refinishing a piece to bring it to your style. Brand sure it is solid and functional and the aesthetics will come later!

2. Clean Thoroughly

The next step to restoring wood piece of furniture without sanding is to make clean the piece thoroughly. I similar to employ TSP, which is a heavy duty cleaner. It does excellently at removing years of grime, dirt and grease. This leaves your slice with a clean finish so your primer doesn't have to work as hard.

First, make clean the piece with TSP wearing durable gloves. And then, get back over the slice with clean water to clean off any picture it leaves behind.

Make sure to remove doors and hardware and then you tin can clean in all the nooks and crannies.

3. Degloss (or sand…)

The next step in this version of painting piece of furniture without sanding is to apply a deglosser. Like I mentioned higher up, this is an culling to sanding. If you'd rather non work with chemicals then sanding is the other choice at this signal in the process!

Wearing safety gloves, simply rub the deglosser onto the wood with a clean lint complimentary rag. You can also utilise steel wool, still I oft find it is unnecessarily abrasive. I like to cut upwards my husband'due south old white tshirts he wears under his clothes shirts for my rags! They are a great fabric and totally lint free.

Later you lot've applied the deglosser, wait for the allotted fourth dimension on the label and and so wipe downwards with a make clean wet rag. Each brand has a slight variation to the instructions then make sure to follow the recommendations of the make yous buy.

In one case you lot've cleaned and deglossed your furniture slice, you will want to decide if you lot're keeping the existing hardware or not. I wanted to update the pulls on my piece and plant that the new hardware didn't line up with the existing spiral holes.

This is an easy fix! Simply utilize forest filler to fill the existing holes, sand down the surface flush, so drill new holes in the position you lot need for your new hardware. I like to drill these holes earlier I prime and paint so I don't mar up a freshly painted surface later.

I used these classic matte black pulls for my cabinet makeover. I love that they come up in diverse sizes and finishes. I chose the 6″ version for the long upper chiffonier doors and the iii″ version for the shorter lower cabinet doors. The 12″ choice would exist beautiful to make a big statement likewise on tall doors!

4. Prime number

The next step is to prime! I'm always asked, "Do I need to prime furniture earlier painting?" And the answer isn't exactly direct forrad. For this method, yes you exercise. But I will share a few other methods at the end of this article that don't require a priming step!

Since I am using a latex pigment, a quality bonding primer is necessary. Latex paint is versatile since it comes in many finishes and colors, but it isn't the nearly durable selection for furniture. And so priming commencement volition ensure a long lasting finish.

I like both Kilz bonding primer and Zinsser Oil Based primer for use on article of furniture. For this piece, I used oil based because it was what I had on hand. I traditionally like to piece of work with water based paints for easy clean upward but oil based is a not bad option likewise!

I thing to await out for is that your primer works with TSP. Some primers say not to use TSP prior considering it cannot adhere to a slice that has been cleaned this way. So make sure to read your labels to avoid heart ache down the road.

5. Pigment

You've fabricated it! All 4 of these grooming steps are necessary for a quality and durable paint finish when using latex pigment. If you skip the cleaning, deglosser or primer, then your pigment will only have a slippery/grimy surface to endeavor to attach to. And paint does not do that well on it'southward own! By taking the time to do a quality chore on the preparation steps, you lot'll benefit greatly in the long run.

Painting wood furniture without sanding.

While you only need to employ one coat of primer, you volition want to use two coats of paint. The image above shows 1 coat of paint and, every bit you can see, it is a streaky finish. This is typical of latex paint and why I always recommend two coats for your topcoat.

I chose to use the color Black by Rustoleum which you can purchase online at Walmart. This is a bit of a chameleon color. I used it in my son's room to makeover his loft beds. Yous can meet that amazing transformation in this post! In his room it looks similar a true blackness. Nonetheless, on this cabinet it pulls more of a charcoal with navy undertones. Lighting is everything with paint so I ever recommend colour samples!

When using latex paint, a semi gloss or gloss are the well-nigh durable finishes on furniture. I used eggshell because it was what I already had on hand and I am waiting to come across if I demand to add a topcoat. So far, information technology has been 5 months since I used the same pigment on my son's loft beds and they haven't shown a scratch or ding! I'k hopeful that the cabinet volition be the aforementioned.

If information technology ends upward showing wear and tear then I will simply touch up those areas and and then utilise a matte poly for more durability.

How to paint laminate piece of furniture

My chiffonier was solid forest, only by and large, thrifted article of furniture is laminate. Then the question becomes, "Can I pigment laminate furniture without sanding likewise?" Yes!

By using the aforementioned method equally above, you can paint laminate piece of furniture without sanding. Simply make sure the laminate itself is in good condition and isn't cracking or chipped.

The priming pace is the most of import for painting laminate furniture since you don't want to sand an already delicate surface. Take care to follow these same steps and your laminate piece of furniture volition turn out merely as beautiful.

(Side note: see how I congenital this DIY axle header in this post!)

What pigment do I apply for piece of furniture?

At present, on to the other methods for how to paint furniture without sanding! The method above uses primer and latex paint, but what if yous don't want to prime number also? At that place are a few other paint options you lot can choose from.

Chalk Paint: Boasts a no-prep reputation, however the finish options and colors are express. Top coat highly recommended.
Mineral Pigment: Similar to chalk pigment, just often more expensive. Summit coat recommended.
Milk Pigment with bonding agent: Also does not crave sanding or priming, still the colors are express and you have to mix your paint/bonding agent well.

All 3 of these types of pigment are a neat alternative to latex paint. Withal, nearly of them practise crave a top coat. So if you're trying to avoid an extra pace of painting, then they don't quite accomplish that. Whether you are painting a prime glaze or a tiptop coat, information technology's notwithstanding an extra glaze of painting something!

This is why I personally prefer latex. It is more affordable than chalk, mineral or milk paint and isn't any additional work in the long run. All the same, I know many people who swear by these non-latex paint options and they exercise produce a cute result too! It'southward simply a preference as they will all piece of work wonderfully to update your wood piece of furniture with paint.

How do you paint article of furniture without brush marks?

As yous can see, I used a paint brush to do my cabinet makeover. This is a typical tool and I adopt it over small foam rollers. I recollect it gives a better finish and you lot take more control over the paint application. I use this short handle angled brush for most of my projects and it is highly recommended.

Yous can run into all of my favorite DIY paint tools in my Amazon Storefront for quick purchasing!

I had then many people ask how I can paint article of furniture without seeing the brush strokes. And I actually have a very detailed article on how to paint without brush strokes already on the web log! This postal service is geared towards painting trim without castor strokes, merely all of the painting techniques apply only the aforementioned to painting furniture.

Make sure you caput there next to get my best tips and avert those pesky brush strokes!

You Might Too Be Interested In

If you're looking for more painting projects, I have a ton of resources on the blog to help yous.

How to Modernize a Home with Painted Trim
Painting Interior Doors: Pros & Cons of Brush vs. Pigment Sprayer
How to Paint Shiplap
How to Paint Windows Without Record
How to Pigment Your Kitchen Cabinets
How to Paint a Tile Backsplash
How to Paint a Room Fast in 5 Steps
How to Paint a Deck
How to Pigment an Upholstered Bed Frame

Decor Sources & Become Connected

I hope this article on how to paint forest article of furniture without sanding has been helpful to yous! DIY is 1 of my favorite topics on the blog and over on Instagram and YouTube.

Make sure to follow me on Instagram for daily behind the scenes projects and styling tips and subscribe on YouTube for weekly videos!