How To Prime Furniture Video Tutorial

The answer to why prime furniture, the type of primer to use, what color the primer should be and how to prime furniture are here. I used to say it wasn’t necessary to prime furniture but I’ve changed my tune. I don’t think you need to prime all pieces before you paint but there are some instances when a coat of primer will make the paint job a lot easier.

I made a video while priming the vintage bed I showed you guys a couple of weeks ago. Yep, in front of the camera again. I talk you through the process of priming the bed. It’s really the best way to show you the process. Still photos and my step by step instructions just don’t tell the story like a video does. I share why I primed the bed and the best primer color for the job. I slipped up and told the color of the paint in the video, darn. Video at the bottom of post.

Vintage Bed To Prime and Paint

This is the vintage bed I bought at my favorite junk shop for $25.

I asked you guys for ideas on paint colors and even shared a few inspiration photos I found online. I was thinking blue and most of you guys agreed. Well, I changed the color and I’m really happy with the outcome. The bed is finished but I’ve been in Arkansas visiting my parents for the past week and didn’t have time to get photos and videos edited.

I have a video of the paint process and the special technique I used coming up soon. I still have to edit that video.

The veneer on the back of the footboard was in bad shape but I just primed over it.

There were areas on the headboard and footboard where the veneer was chipped off. I left those as they were with plans to distress those areas. That’s not what I did. You have to wait for the paint reveal for all of the details.

One leg of the footboard was a mess as you can see in the photo above. I filled the holes the best I could with wood filler and I did a great job if I say so myself.

This is the first coat of wood filler. I always apply the wood filler, wait for it to dry, sand it smooth and flush, then fill any places where the wood filler shrunk up and go through drying and the sanding process again.

The above photo shows how the wood filler looked after the first coat of filler was sanded smooth. The top corner of the leg was really eaten away and I had to fill with wood filler and sand 3 times.

The primer is my favorite Glidden Gripper that I have tinted gray. Gray works better than white under most colors of paint.

Why Prime Furniture?

The furniture finish is uneven in color.

This is the reason I primed the bed. As you can see from the photos the veneer was peeled off in places and the stained finish was rubbed off in places. It’s best to start with a uniform color when applying the coat of paint. The lighter areas on the bed would require more coats of paint to cover them than the darker areas.

The original furniture stain is mahogany or reddish in color.

Reddish tone stains tend to bleed through paint. Applying one or even two coats of primer should prevent bleeding.

The furniture was painted with oil based paint.

When using latex paint over oil based paint the paint may chip. It used to be a hard and fast rule that you have to prime when applying latex over oil based paint. The improvements in latex paint the past few years and the addition of primer to the paint may mean you don’t have to apply a coat of primer before you paint. It’s your call. I would definitely sand the oil based paint lightly if you choose not to use a primer.

As I mentioned I don’t always prime the furniture. I take several things into consideration including the furniture finish, the type of paint I’m using, and the final look I want to achieve along with other things.

Ready to see the video? If you listen closely you can hear where I accidentally reveal what color I’m painting the bed. …

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