How To Paint An Antique Piano Stool With Dixie Belle Paint Color Caviar

This piano stool is a true antique, and my first thought was to strip it and apply a sealer for a natural look. But my plan didn’t come together. I have never stripped stained furniture before……for a reason.

I found the piano stool at my favorite junk shop. I love the seat and the light finish or natural look. The bottom, not so much. I’m not sure the top and bottom are original to each other. The styles look too different.

The base has a reddish-looking stain, and I do not believe the seat was ever stained red.

Soooo, I decided to try stripping the stain from the stool. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve never stripped furniture. I applied a gel stripper, and it said to leave it on for 2 to 24 hours. 

You  are not supposed to let the stripper dry either, it should remain damp. 

I was a little anxious and washed the stripper off after two hours. It either didn’t strip anything, or the wood was naturally red. I didn’t care for it.

I grabbed my jar of Dixie Belle paint, Caviar color, and started painting. For the first coat of paint on chairs and similar pieces, I always turn the pieces upside down. That way, I don’t miss any areas.

The insides of the legs were hard to reach, and I used a small paintbrush to paint those areas. 

The seat had a depressed area where the wood was damaged, and I thought it would look okay after a coat of paint, but it didn’t. 

I filled the holes with wood filler and let it dry.

Then I sanded the putty flush with the seat surface.

A dry paintbrush is the perfect tool for brushing off the sanded particles.

Some of the pits and dents didn’t get covered well with the putty the first go around. 

I filled those and then sanded them down when dry. After a second coat of paint, the seat looked a lot better. 

The Dixie Belle Chalk Mineral Paint has a flat sheen. To give the stool a little shine, I applied Dixie Belle Clear Coat in Satin. 

Furniture with ridges, dips, and curves have to be carefully painted and sealed because drips and puddling can occur in those areas.

I always look over the piece after applying sealer or paint to check these problem areas. It is easy to take off the excess paint or sealer while still wet. 

The stool looks great. When I painted the seat, I ran the black paint over the beaded edge, but I didn’t completely cover the grooves with the paint. The little bit of stained wood against the black paint looks good.

The table is a “project fail.” More about that later. The black paint is the same Dixie Belle Caviar color paint, but I didn’t apply the satin sealer to the table. That is why the black paint on the stool and the black paint on the table look so different.

The Dixie Belle Sealer gave the black paint just the right amount of shine. 

The Caviar color is black as night. I decided not to distress the paint because I didn’t want the red finish to show. 

Now about that table. I purchased it from an online auction. I wanted to do something different with the table and decided to paint it black and decoupage the top.

I painted the table then wet distressed the paint with a wet wipe. 

Next, I decoupaged a printed map onto the top and made a mess. Decoupage is not one of my favorite techniques. The paper ripped, and there were all kinds of bubbles under it. 

Instead of stripping it off, I distressed the decoupaged paper map and applied dark wax. I was in no mood to start over on the table makeover so I took it to the booth as is…and it has already sold. Just goes to show sometimes “fails” aren’t bad.

How do you feel about decoupage and what do you think of the stool makeover? Thanks for being here, Kathy