DIY Spraypainting Wood Furniture

We are always trying to figure out easier/better ways to paint furniture. When possible we prefer to use spray-paint or the paint compressor, because we get a nicer finish (no brush strokes).

With this most recent project we went the spray-painting route.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Here is how we achieved our final project:

We sanded it with 150 grit sandpaper to remove the brush strokes from the previous paint job.

Then we sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to now smooth out the previous sanding job.

Then you need to wipe it clean with a damp cloth, let it dry and then spray with Odorless Kilz spray paint primer.

Let primer dry, then sand with 220 grit sandpaper, wipe clean again, let dry and then respray primer.

Let dry 2 hours and then re-sand with 220 grit sandpaper.

Now that you have a nice white flat surface due to the primer and sanding you can check out the piece and see if there are any small flaws that need to be addressed.

This is when you would use wood filler to patch up nicks. If your surface is nick free you don’t need to worry about wood filler.

If you are using wood filler use a spatula to apply wood filler into nicks. Let dry. Sand with 220 grit sand paper and then re-spray primer, let dry and then re-sand with 220 grit paper.

I know this may seem extreme and that it might make more sense to do the wood filler first and then prime, but getting a good coat of primer on your piece first will help highlight flaws that you may have not seen otherwise. We were going for a high gloss almost lacquer finished so we needed the smoothest surface possible.

Your surface prep is now finished (finally, right?  ) and you can apply your top coat.

Coat your furniture piece in light coats and allow 15-20 mins in between said coats. Apply 3 to 4 coats making sure color is even on piece.

Let it dry 24 hrs before applying top coat.

It’s always best to apply a protective finish on pieces. It can be tricky when you are painting your piece white, because a lot of poly finishes cause yellowing. Yellowing happens because people apply oil based polyurethane over acrylic/latex/water paints when it should only be applied over oil based paints.

We tend to use acrylic spray paint so our go-to acrylic top coat is Krylon Crystal Clear.

When we use traditional paint like Behr latex paint on furniture our go-to top coat is water based polycrylic likeMinWax Polycrylic.

Final set time varies depending on product. Make sure you read the labels.

Whew if you made it through all that. Hope this is helpful.