Before you choose to paint a vintage piece of furniture, ask yourself these questions first:
Is the piece solid wood or covered in a veneer?
Does the veneer have damage beyond repair?
Does the wood have damage beyond repair?
Does the piece need quick makeover or a total overhaul?
Does the piece have value if left in its original state?
Painting vintage furniture may be a quick fix that we all can achieve over a weekend, and it does make a piece feel fresh and new again. However, is painting furniture a good idea? Ask yourselves these top questions before you give up on the piece by adding paint, because there's no going back and if you do want to go back, it is haaaard work to undo.
Solid wood furniture from past era's are some of the most beautiful pieces of art you could add into your home and you know it will be a unique piece that nobody else will have. If you find a piece of vintage furniture that has some damage and needs some work, please look past those issues as most of them are very simple to reverse. Visit my "How to repair water damage on 1930's solid wood vanity" blog post by clicking the button below. I have a step by step "how to" included in this post.
When is it a good idea to paint a piece of vintage furniture?
I have painted vintage furniture many times, of course, but I have an opinion on painting over solid wood pieces especially when they have minimal damage and can be brought back to life with a few simple steps and good products. There are of course many more paintable pieces out there than solid wood pieces that deserve to be enhanced back to its original glory, so what kind of pieces do I feel okay about painting?
when the piece is covered with lower quality, thin, super shiny veneer
a previously painted piece
a piece with a lot of damage to the veneer or wood if it's too far gone to fix
a piece that will be used for glassware or have liquids around them alot
a piece that has a bland, boring veneer finish
a piece that has damaged corners or edge banding cracked off (sometimes)
How do I decide if a piece is worth restoring rather than just painting?
The characteristics listed above are my go to reasons to paint a piece or not, and the general answer to why is because there is no significance to the piece or how it was manufactured. A lower quality veneer finished piece would be equivalent to an IKEA piece nowadays where they are a dime a dozen and will always be available new or second hand. They aren't a numbered piece of furniture that is No. 26 out of 100 made as some solid wood pieces made by a designer or very well known furniture company would be. So, before you paint, do your research. You may even have found a diamond in the rough that could be a win for you or your wallet, if you know what I mean?
Let's talk about this 1960's dresser set DIY
This 1960's dresser set was a steal of a deal that I snatched up from marketplace. A lady was finally selling this set as it had been in her family for many years, but the recent person they got passed down to use was her teenage son who sadly was not caring for them and they got damaged in a few different ways and places. She was asking $80 for the 2 dressers which was great, but when I saw the damage to the veneer on them I almost passed on them. The photo to the left doesn't do much justice, but the veneer on the bottom drawers were actually coming off in large strips.
Damage aside, I just loved the wavy shape of them and thought they had good potential, but the amount of money I would spend on veneer wouldn't be worth any profit made if I chose to resell. I told her, " There is a lot of damage to the veneer so I would have to spend quite a bit of money replacing it, so I don't think I can make this deal with you today." The moment I finished that sentence she said abruptly, "I'll give them to you for $40, I just want them out of my garage". Well, for that price, I was not gonna pass. I did end up keeping this dresser set for my home and I didn't end up going the new veneer route. Instead, you got it, I painted them.
9 Steps to painting a vintage piece of furniture
Step 1: Asses your piece, remove the hardware, make a plan of attack, and source the products you may need. Are you changing the handles? What color will you go? What sheen of finish do you want it to have?
Step 2: Very Important! Clean your piece thoroughly. Vacuum out the dust and cobwebs, use a degreasing cleaner all over the surfaces and allow to fully dry.
Step 3 :Take the time to make repairs to your piece or perhaps remove details you don't want. You may need to fill in scratches, gouges or maybe a router design on the drawer fronts because you want a smooth finish instead.
Step 4 :Sanding. Once your filler is dry, sand those areas down until flush with the rest of the surfaces, then scuff sand the remaining surfaces of your piece. You want to use a higher grit sandpaper such as 120-220 in order to leave a slight scuff behind. This will allow your primer and paint to adhere the best it can and will make sure your paint won't scratch off the first time you put a piece of decor on it.
Step 5: Primer. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. Just like scuff sanding, a primer will allow your paint to adhere to the piece much better with than without one as well as offer more strength to your finish. I like to do 2 coats of primer, sanding in between with 400 grit.
Quick tip: The type of primer will depend on what you need to cover up as well. For example, maybe your piece has bad stains on it therefore you may want to choose a stain blocking primer
Step 6: Once dry, give your primer a quick sand with 400 grit sandpaper. This will gently knock of roughness and leave the piece super smooth. Wipe down the remaining dust off the piece with a tack cloth or a microfiber cloth works too.
Step 7: It's time to paint! This is a generic explanation as there are many paints on the market to choose from, and they may all have different techniques to follow. Make sure you read the instructions on your chosen paint brand, and get painting.
Step 8: Once your first coat is dry, go ahead and give it another quick sand down with the 400 grit sandpaper, reason is the same. The smoother the better. Repeat after each coat of paint you desire to add.
Step 9: Top coat! This too is dependant on the brand and product, so again read the instructions first. After your top coat(s) are dry, you got it, one more smooth down to go to give your new piece its final finish. Pop your hardware back on and you're finished!
Bonus Step: Try a finale coat of wood wax or furniture oil to really shine up your piece.
What did I do to revive these 2 dressers?
I really wanted to save some of the original wood veneer on the top drawers of both dressers, while the bottom drawers were beyond fixing hence my story earlier. The top drawers still had their flaws, but much more minor than the bottom. I had to glue down a few bits or veneer that were lifting as well as add little bits of veneer to cover where it may have been missing. I did this by simply using the veneer from the bottom drawers as I did peel all of that off before painting.
SAVE YOUR VENEER FOR SPOT FILLING
Don't throw away your veneer until your piece is finished, you never know where you may need a tiny little shred of it to fill over a void, and you won't be finding the matching veneer in stores.
After making my fixes and fillers here and there, I proceeded to follow all my painting steps as I detailing above for the bottom drawers and the frame of the dressers. For the veneer drawers I left as is, all I did was give them a good wood conditioning with some Harold's Feed n' wax. The handles I thought were perfect for the pieces so I kept those as is, however a quick coat of Dixie Belle's gold gilding wax was a guaranteed step I would take to make the old handles look new and modern.
How have they held up?
TRANSPARENCY NOTE: The after photos presented are true to date, and show their existing wear and tear of daily use.
As I said earlier, I brought these home for us to use in our bedroom. We have been using them day after day for 16 months now and I can say they are holding up great. The areas that are lacking are the spots where the drawers slide across the frame, but only on the bottom drawers. My theory is obvious, the product added to the sides of the drawers (the primer, paint and top coat layers) have added thickness to them therefore they are a tighter fit. I think it could also be a smart idea to sand down an 1/8" of the drawer sides in order to make up for this thickness if whenever possible.
I may do a paint touch up with a stronger top coat on these dressers now that I've seen the wear. I used a satin top coat to finish these, which isn't the strongest choice, however I did want a matte finish. Think about how much use your piece is going to have before choosing your top coat. I think I will do a high gloss polyurethane for at least the top of these dressers to give it a stronger surface.
Perhaps these pieces will turn into me doing a "learn from my mistakes" blog.
-Ol' Bettie DIY
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