Try This Special Furniture Paint Technique For Wow Makeovers

This special furniture paint technique will take any piece of furniture from ho-hum to Wow…and it’s so easy. The technique is one that will have your furniture looking designer worthy and you can’t mess it up. Trust me.

You guys have seen me do this technique before. The last project was a table painted white and I highlighted the grooved details in a brownish color. Well this time the piece is a tannish grayish color (haha) and the details are highlighted in white. 

I have a video from the table project at the end of the post that shows the technique.

This is the project piece. I bought it along with a couple of other large pieces for about $30. A steal right. I don’t think anyone else wanted them because of the issues like broken drawers and stuck cabinet doors. 

Well, I took care of those repairs and then turned the vintage sideboard into a thing of beauty. 

Today is Furniture Fixer Upper tour day so be sure and check out the other projects at the end of the post. Let’s get started on the tutorial for the vintage sideboard.

First I had to deal with the broken drawer. It really wasn’t much of a problem since all the pieces were there and intact. No missing drawer panels or broken wood.

All I had to do was nail the drawer front to the front sides of the drawer. I used my handy Ryobi brad nailer. It makes any job easy.

Using a hammer I tapped the small nail heads in a bit so they were flush with the drawer.

Next I had to take care of the cabinet door on the left side because it would not close properly. The top and the right side top would get stuck and I would have to pry the door open. Not fun.

I used a sander with 80 grit sandpaper and sanded that door forever. Finally the door would close without getting stuck.

The magnet thingy inside the cabinet was missing too. My friend Sara at the shop happened to have an extra thingy and I screwed it in place. Seems there is always work to be done to these old pieces.

Deciding on a paint color was my next problem. I thought about black because the black sideboards seem to sell well at the shop. I wasn’t feeling the dark color and found the jar of Miss Lillian’s No-Wax Chock Paint on the shelf. The color is English Tapestry which seems to be a tan color with a hint of gray which means the tan does not have that yellow tinge to it. That’s the best I can describe it. 

The photo above shows the sideboard after one coat of the paint. Miss Lillian’s NO WAX Chock Paint is a creamy water based, chalk style paint with ZERO VOC, is self leveling and has a built in sealant which means no waxing.

This is how the sideboard looked after two coats of paint. Kind of flat looking and that’s sad since the piece has all those lovely details.

The special furniture paint technique involves adding water to the paint before brushing or wiping the paint wash over the furniture. My wash mix is about equal amounts water and paint.

I used a small paint brush to paint the details. That includes all the corners and the grooves on the sides of the piece. The video shows the process really well.

For the larger flat areas I wiped the paint wash on a small area then wiped it back with a damp rag until I got the look I was going for. In this case I wanted the wash to be very light.

The photo of the leg and the grooves on the side details show the white paint details very well. As you can tell by looking at the closeup photo that this is not a precise science. No perfection required. 

I used the original drawer pulls and painted the white with my favorite Rustoleum Heirloom Satin (off-white). The photo above shows the drawer pulls with the first heavy coat of spray paint.

You can see little pitted areas on the small pieces of the pulls. Once the pieces dry from the first coating…..the second coat will cover those pitted areas. Don’t keep spraying the first time around because you can never cover the pitted areas that way. Voice of experience.

The cabinet knobs were missing and I pulled two different types of knobs from my stash to spray paint the same color as the pulls.

The spray paint was the perfect color. White white spray paint would have been too glaring.

What a difference the white paint makes to this piece. That’s why this special furniture paint technique is one of my go-to’s on detailed pieces like this sideboard.

I am extremely happy with the finished look. I think the sideboard is going on my list of favorite furniture makeovers. What do you think of it? Leave a note if you have time and don’t forget the tour today.

Watch the video below on how to paint those groove furniture details. The only difference is the color. On this video project I was painting the details in a brown color on white furniture. Just the opposite on this piece but the same technique. Enjoy….

Painting Furniture Details – Special Furniture Paint Technique

Special Furniture Paint Technique

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Time to check out all the furniture fixer upper projects. Just click the pink text links below the “before” makeover photo collage…..

Thrift Store Dresser – Confessions of a Serial DIYer

Painted Empire Dresser – Salvaged Inspirations

Driftwood Finish Chalk Paint – Girl in the Garage

Special Paint Finish – Petticoat Junktion (you are here)

As always, thanks for being here, Kathy