Looking for advice about repainting furniture

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kitla
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Looking for advice about repainting furniture

Post by kitla »

I picked up a lovely old 70's childs wardrobe/cupboard for free from gumtree & I'm upcycling it for my soon to arrive Grandaughter. I've sanded it all down & am giving it a coat of universal primer first. Then, instead of buying expensive furniture paint I was intending to paint it with what I have left of the emulsion I used in our kitchen. Its that very cleanable valspar one, I find it never comes off on the cloth like other kitchen paints. It's just the right colour so seemed the perfect answer. I'll probably use up any acrylic paints I can find to decorate the doors.
I was wondering if I'm making a mistake using emulsion & if anyone here is experienced at painting up old furniture that can reassure me that it will work! (or not)
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fabindia
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Re: Looking for advice about repainting furniture

Post by fabindia »

Mrs Fab, Wendy, has up-cycled quite a bit of furniture in the past, including re-painting our rather drab, dark bedroom furniture here in Thailand.

She uses homemade chalk paint by mixing emulsion with either plaster of Paris or baking soda. Google homemade chalk paint for a few ideas. Much cheaper than buying chalk paint from the shops.
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kitla
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Re: Looking for advice about repainting furniture

Post by kitla »

never heard of that Fab. Does that make it more resiliant? is it just the finish?
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albertajune
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Re: Looking for advice about repainting furniture

Post by albertajune »

So glad I checked in this morning. I was going to buy chalk paint this morning which is very expensive and then saw the tip Michael is giving. Thanks Michael. )like(
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Mo
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Re: Looking for advice about repainting furniture

Post by Mo »

I'd never heard of chalk paint, so googled and found. I looks as if you didn't need to prime.
But that doesn't say if emulsion would be OK, so doesn't answer Kitla's question.
The site recommends the best paint for wooden furniture but is all about what paint to buy, not using up left-over paint.
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kitla
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Re: Looking for advice about repainting furniture

Post by kitla »

I've already primed most of it anyway. I've had a bit of a google & I think the chalk paint is more about the look & as Mo said no need to prime. This just needs to look jolly (bright "happy yellow") & be wipeable. I've seen that some people use decorators varnish to seal it, perhaps I could use something like that on the top.
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Re: Looking for advice about repainting furniture

Post by fabindia »

I see some sites talk about latex paint. I googled latex paint and found this:

Latex paint is a general term which covers all paints that use synthetic polymers such as acrylic, vinyl acrylic (PVA), styrene acrylic, etc. as binders. ... Our brothers and sisters in the UK use the general term "emulsion" instead of latex but it is the same type of paint that we term “latex” paint in USA.


Modern emulsions are quite hard wearing, hence they will work as the base for "chalk paint", though of course it won't be as hard wearing as an old oil-based gloss paint but that's not the goal here.
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kitla
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Re: Looking for advice about repainting furniture

Post by kitla »

That's intresting, I saw mention of latex paint but presumed that was something different. If latex is the same as emulsion I'm pretty sure it will be ok.
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lancashire lass
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Re: Looking for advice about repainting furniture

Post by lancashire lass »

not quite furniture, but I painted an old wooden wall spice rack with washable emulsion paint and it's fine, in fact it was less messy than using gloss and dried quickly and less odour. I had painted the kitchen walls and decided to spruce up the rack as well (it's over 50 years old - originally it belonged to my mother made by a friend ... 4 little shelves, each shelf will hold about 8 spice/herb bottles) The only problem I found is when cleaning, the paint on the edges does come off a little especially when rubbing too hard (especially any grease) but to be honest is not that big a deal and can be repainted when I next paint the kitchen.
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kitla
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Re: Looking for advice about repainting furniture

Post by kitla »

Thanks, good to know )like(
"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
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