Painting Furniture

I have been painting as long as I can remember. I didn't start out painting furniture, I started painting with fabric paint with my Grandma JJ! Remember the "puff" paint?   I would paint little wooden boxes or material that she was making into a quilt! My Grandmother was very artsy, she always had me drawing or doing something fun. This included garage sales, Lots of them. I would always find something to "fix up". I remember in the 4th grade we had to make a kite, well my dad and I made it and I painted a little duck sitting on water next to a baby duck! My teacher made me call my parents and we had a meeting about it. They said there is no way I was the one who painted that, and I would not be able to get full credit for the project! While they were sitting "discussing" this issue I busted out my notebook and drew the stupid duck again, they got very quiet!

I guess its always been with me. The ability to see things and make them "better"! I used to go to friends houses  ( around the age of 9) and ask why don't you paint the wall this color or Fix that table and re-cover those chairs. Im pretty sure my friends parents thought I was a snooty know-it-all, but I was doing it in the name of all things pretty!!

When my daughter was born I started painting all kinds of cute things! I painted her little toddler sized bench with hand painted flowers and other shapes! That was the same year I had this weird addiction to the "Vine" stencil.  Above every door in my house was a random ivy stencil in green! I thought it was so COOL! Now my daughter and I both love painting large wall to wall damask with  stencils.  SO much nicer then the "ivy" of the late 90's!! Now she is 16 and painting her own furniture!

So to sum it up, I have been truly painting furniture since I was 18, thats a long long time and a lot of experience. I once messed up some ready made shelves from Lowes, but what I didn't know is they were MDF.... the paint would not stick!  DUH!!! I think I ended up throwing them away! So for the past 16 years I have learned from my mistakes and perfected the art of painting wood! I read other blogs/websites  about painting furniture and I agree with most of them, but there are those that make me cringe. Especially when they recommend a crappy product or advise you NOT to clean the wood before slappin' on that first coat of paint!

I currently paint anywhere from 10-20 pieces of furniture a month and have for over 2 years now!! I love what I do, its my thing and I love the freedom to be creative and make a good living doing so. I cant stress enough the two most important steps in painting a piece of furniture....

1. TSP the wood, it gets all the oil and grease off. It preps the wood to accept the paint and allows it to stay on!
2. Use a good paint, I have said it before, BEHR paint with primer is the best, Natura by Benjamin Moore is my Second Fav. Its also zero voc. I also like chalk paint, Annie Sloan and CeCe Caldwell.
I use Benjamin Moore Super spec low lustre for all things black... It goes on a Hunter green and dries a BEAUTIFUL  deep rich black!

one of my first pieces when I started this company, I still have it! 

Paint on, My friends!!