Some of my absolute favorite transformations in our home have come from simple paint – it’s amazing the difference it can make! Spray paint dries quickly and creates a beautiful satin finish. Check out this picture tutorial on how to get that high gloss look with a touch of antique glazing.
Painting furniture can be time consuming that is why I have fallen in love with spray painting my furniture to get a fresh new look with a small time investment.
Today I am going to show you how to spray paint your furniture to give an old piece in your home a new lease on life with just spray paint and an easy antiquing and distressing technique.
Choosing a spray paint can be a lot of fun!
For this project I chose the Rust-Oleum American Accents Ultra Cover 2X paint.
The thing that makes this paint special is that it can cover twice the square footage of other general purpose spray paints.
This new paint contains 44% more solids which creates a higher performance than other paints and gives you better coverage with fewer passes.
What makes the paint economical is that one can performs like two cans, so it saves you time and money.
The price also fits nicely into a DIY’ers budget at a mere $3.87 per can
I love this corner in our office, but have not loved this side table for many years.
These chairs are so fun, but the table added no personality to this corner. I had planned to donate it to Goodwill, but I wondered if I could give this piece a spray paint face lift that would reflect this fun space.
I decided to give the table a makeover with a little spray paint and antiquing.
Check out my video tutorial and picture tutorial for spray painting wood furniture below.
How to Spray Paint Furniture
Supplies Needed to Spray Paint Furniture
Spray Paint Primer (gray if doing a dark color or white if doing a light color)
1-2 Cans Rust-Oleum American Accents Ultra Cover 2X, any shade (I am using Moss Green)- make sure the one you choose is a spray paint for wood
Rust-Oleum Standard Spray Grip
Rust-Oleum Decorative Glaze in Java Brown
Sander
Sand Paper
Rags
Hardware (optional) or spray paint to paint it
How to Spray Paint Your Furniture
To begin, prepare your surface by wiping the entire piece down with a clean cloth. Disassemble any drawers and hardware to prepare it for painting.
Next, give the entire piece a good sanding to smooth out any imperfections. Sand any edges with a piece of sandpaper and use a sander to smooth the top of your piece. IT is important to take your time when you sand your furniture, so you have a great base for painting.
Once the piece is fully sanded, wipe it down with a damp cloth to prepare it for priming.
To help prevent drips and to make sure we get into every crevice of this piece with paint, we are going to start with our piece INVERTED.
I promise, it is going to help the painting process go so much smoother than if you start with it upright.
Starting with your piece inverted, begin spray painting it with your primer. Be sure to be in a well ventilated area and give your primer a good shake to begin priming your surface well.
Hold your can 8 inches away from your surface and spray your primer in a sweeping motion side to side with a slight overlap. Allow the primer to dry for one hour.
Put the piece right side up and finish priming the top. Allow the primer to dry for one hour.
Repeat the same process with your choice of Rust-Oleum American Accents Ultra Cover 2X in your favorite shade. Once the piece is fully painted, allow it to dry overnight before glazing.
Using a coarse sandpaper, begin roughing up the edges on your piece to create a more antique look. Be sure to distress those edges so your antique glaze has somewhere to go!
Using a clean rag, dip your rag in your glaze and then begin applying in a circular motion to your piece.
With a clean and damp cloth, remove as much of the glaze as you would like. I again, removed this in a circular motion from the piece until it added a hint of variation to the piece, but didn’t look sponged.
If you desire, you can spray paint your hardware. As you know hardware can be expensive to replace and sometimes older pieces have more custom fitting hardware so spray paint can be a great way to freshen it up.
We chose to replace the wooden handle with a black hardware piece and then spray painted the old gold accessories black with a can I had in my craft supplies.
We have spray painted many a handle in our home and you would never know it wasn’t that color originally.
Be sure to let this FULLY DRY before you slide those drawers back in!
Here is my finished piece.
I am so darn proud of it and love how vintage this piece looks thanks to the glazing and sanding process that I did on it.
In full disclosure, there were some missteps along the way.
Temperature Changes Effect Spray Paint
If you live in Indiana, you know that the drops and changes in temperature can be quite dramatic and that is just what happened when I painted this.
I put a final coat on my perfect table before I went to bed and woke up to a table and drawers that had bubbled in the night.
Try to pick a time of day when the temperature is warmer and will hold steady (nothing below fifty degrees) to prevent bubbling of paint.
I used the advice provided by Kate, at Centsational Girl, on what to do if your spray paint bubbles and it worked like a charm.
Shake Your Spray Paint Can Well
Having that handy trigger on the spray paint makes it easy to paint quickly, but I forgot to shake the can every so often to keep my paint looking even and glossy.
You definitely will want to make sure you shake it very well at the beginning, and shake it every so often when painting with it.
Who Knew You Needed to Be So Tidy?
Make sure after sanding that you really have a nice clear surface to begin your painting, otherwise you will have a crummy surface…literally.
The same can be said for choosing a nice clean rag when doing glazing and keeping the piece as clean as you can, which is super difficult if you are in your filthy garage like me!
Distressing Can Hide Flaws
Distressing the piece more not only helped me minimize the bubbles, but it also added character to the piece.
For my first spray painted furniture piece, I would definitely recommend it the first time to help you get the hang of how to paint with spray paint.
Practice Makes Perfect
This piece isn’t my best work, but I love it in spite of its flaws.
As with all skills, it takes a little practice to get the hang of spray painting furniture.
Even though I struggled a bit with my first project, I can’t wait to paint my record cabinet in our office next in the same shade and now I know what to do and what NOT to do when it comes to spray painting my furniture.
What a difference a day makes?
Isn’t she lovely?
She has certainly brightened up this corner of our home!
I highly recommend giving this new paint a try!
Fast coverage and an inexpensive way to add a pop of color in your home!
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Looking for more ways to refresh your living space?
Check out these other great DIY projects for your home!
Happy painting, friends!
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