Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Furniture Painting on holidays - 24 hour project

We are back from holidays traveling the Great Ocean Road. I’ll share more about the holidays soon but first I wanted to share a project I did for my sister in Melbourne. 

before and after white painted furniture lilyfield life
The kids and I drove to Melbourne via the south coast and stopped in Eden for a few days then arrived in Melbourne Friday evening. Phil flew in on the Saturday. So Friday night I was chatting to my sister Rachael while she was prepping dinner and she mentioned she’d been wanting to paint the furniture in her lounge room white for a few years. She was really nervous about doing it and also didn’t have the time she thought it would take.

before sideboard

before bookcase: paint your furniture
Her furniture was a matte yellow with loads of texture. She had bought this set around 10 years ago and only choose the yellow as it was available immediately but the white was on back order for a few months. The yellow was quite dated and Rach was over it all. So when she mentioned it, I looked at her husband and said why don’t we go to the paint shop and I can paint it now. So while Rach put the lasagna in the oven, Sean and I jumped in the car and went to Bunnings: the only shop open at 730pm on a Friday night and close by. So I didn’t use my normal paints but I knew adhesion would be no problem as I was painting over a matte good surface. Also I have used so many different types of paints over the year I know I an get a good finish regardless of the paint I use.

After dinner, we set up in the lounge room - me with my paint stuff and Sean and Rach on the lounge and all of us with a glass of red wine: how civilized:) I gave the pieces a very light sand and a wipe down then primed it all with a good primer. I used my favourite brush (around $17 from Bunnings - the Monarch Angled Sash brush 50mm. This brush gives the best smooth finish that I have found and they last very well)

white painted bookcase Lilyfield Life chalk paint
 One coat of primer

white painted tv cabinet Lilyfield Life
I didn’t even clear the bookshelves or baskets: Rachael wanted to leave the timber bits timber and luckily I am a really neat painter. We went to bed around 1130pm when I’d finished priming it all and let the primer dry overnight. 

The next morning I got up at 630am and did the fingernail scratch test and the primer wasn’t going anywhere. Such good adhesion which always makes me happy. So I started on the first coat of white paint. Because I couldn’t buy the chalk paint I wanted I used Dulux wash and wear paint in a low sheen. We choose Antique White USA as this is what Sean and Rach’s doors and architraves /skirtings are painted in. Also it has very good coverage for white so that helped me out with how mnay coats of paint I needed to do. I painted all morning which worked out fine as Sean went and picked up my husband Phil from the airport as he flew down to join the holiday and then we were just hanging out at home for my nephew Max to come home for lunch. By lunchtime I had finished the painting (two coats of Antique White USA (and the coat of white primer) gave full coverage over the yellow and after lunch we went out to the Finders Keepers Markets for a browse: well Rach, Sasha and I went to the markets and the guys went to a nearby pub for the afternoon. After dinner the paint had all dried nicely and we set up with the red wine again in the lounge room: I did the top coats and lightly sanded everything with a fine grit sand paper for a smooth finish - the product I used the Rustoleum Matte sealer that i really love and its non yellowing so that's a what you need for over white paint: and by 10pm I had finished everything. What a turnaround. 

bookcase lilyfield life white paint chalk
bookcase lilyfield life white paint

Rach and Sean were absolutely thrilled  - so nice to do this for them. Th whole lounge room looks different and lighter and brighter. More modern also.  The white paint really set off the dark timber also and made it look so nice.

tv cabinet Lilyfield Life white paint chalk

tv cabinet Lilyfield life white paint chalk

What a quick project - nice to do something I love for someone I love
Fiona xx






1 comment:

  1. This would have taken me years, you are such a great painter.

    Do you ever make your own chalk paint with plaster? I have had good success with that - and since you also add water, it really stretches the paint.

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