Painting furniture...?
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I have three big household expenses on the horizon: 1. Rip up the wall to wall carpet in my 1BR condo and get new floors. 2. Re-do all three of my closets with new shelves, drawers, hanging rods, etc. 3. Replace my bedroom furniture.
The new floor project is stalled, as I'm having trouble finding something that I like. I've pretty much given up on cork (sadly), as I can't find any in a color that I like. So now I've moved on to looking at engineered wood, but most of it is "rustic" or "character grade." These are fancy names for "spending $$$ for a new floor that is already worn and cracked," and it doesn't fit my decor. I've found three possible non-rustic colors that might be okay, but I'm not ready to move forward with one of them yet.
I had been thinking that the next project after the new floor would be the closets. In order to really appreciate all the work that's been done in my condo, I need to be able to do a better job taming the clutter, which means fitting more stuff into my closets in a way that is organized and easy to access. After that I figured I would replace bedroom furniture, which is really just a cosmetic thing. I've had natural pine furniture in that room for most of my adult life and I'm more than ready for something different.
But -- the other day, as I was putting away the summer clothes and taking out the winter clothes, one of my two dressers broke. I got it more than 25 years ago at Ikea, so I can't complain, and honestly I knew it was on its last legs. Okay, if I'm going to replace one dresser then I also want to replace everything so I have new set of matching furniture, so I started to poke around online to start the shopping process. I began by looking at lots of pictures of bedrooms with light blue walls, since that's what I have, and decided that white furniture would be a good choice for my room, especially since it gets very little natural light. I plan to give away the remaining old furniture since it's in all good shape.
However -- it's a small bedroom, and finding affordable new furniture that is decent quality and also the right size will be a challenge. In particular the other dresser that is not broken is the perfect size for one corner of the room. I started thinking that maybe I would get a new white bed, nightstands and one new dresser, but would keep the old dresser that fits in that corner and paint it a complementary color.
Then I thought, wait a minute, maybe I should just replace the one dresser that broke, but keep all the other furniture and paint it white. That would mean painting the platform bed (headboard, footboard, side rails), two small nightstands and one dresser. It's all solid pine. Any finish on it is a light matte, no shiny varnish or anything.
I have very limited experience with painting anything. When I first moved into my condo I tried to paint the kitchen cabinets, and mostly I just made a mess. Is it hard to paint furniture or could someone with zero DIY skills do a decent job of it?
Someone at work mentioned "Annie Sloan Chalk Paint," which apparently is great for painting furniture with one coat and no sanding. There's a store near here that sells vintage goods as well as this type of paint, and they offer a class in how to paint furniture with it for $99.
So I don't know, what do you all think? Should I give it a try -- either with the chalk paint or a different kind of paint? If I do, it would be a project for January-February, and I would definitely do it while the old nasty carpet is still in place, so I won't have to worry about making a mess. Then I would turn my attention back to the new floor project.
Another alternative would be to try to find a handyman or other professional to paint the furniture for me. Less work for me, maybe less money than buying all new furniture (but then again maybe not), and a higher likelihood of a good paint job.
So, am I crazy??
Last edited by ny biker; 11-22-2016 at 02:50 PM.
- Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
- Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
- Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle
Gone but not forgotten:
- Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
- Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles