Furniture Painting 101: Step One

 Hey there!  I hope you guys are doing well.  It's been a long time and life has been crazy.  Since I'm no longer selling painted furniture or furniture paint anymore, I thought I would share some tips and tricks for painting and refinishing furniture.

I know there are many paint brands out there that call themselves "no prep" paint.  Unfortunately, that just is not true.  All furniture no matter how big or small needs to have some prep work done in order to have a beautiful finish.

So first things first, you need to give your furniture a good cleaning.  Using a degreaser product is the best place to start.  Now you may be thinking why do I need a degreaser for a bedroom dresser?  The answer to that is FURNITURE POLISH!  Furniture polish is full of oils and waxes that can leave a greasy build up on your furniture pieces.  That greasy build up will act as a resist and keep the paint from sticking to your piece.

You can use products like TSP- tri-sodium phosphate, Krud Kutter, or Simple Green.  

I also like to use a green scour pad.  It really gets in there to removed the build up and it also does a little pre-sanding.

Make sure you rinse your piece well after cleaning and allow it to dry thoroughly. 

Once your piece is completely dry, you can give your piece a light sanding to give it a little tooth for the paint to adhere to.  You can do this with a 220 grit sanding sponge.  If the old finish is really shiny and smooth, you will want to bust out the power sander and give that finish a good scuffed finish.  The boutique furniture paints will not stick to a shiny surface without scuffing or using primer.

When you are finished scuffing/sanding, wipe the dust off or use an air compressor to blow the dust off and you are almost ready to paint.

Check back for the next steps in the furniture painting process!

Happy Painting!

Tricia

MudPaint is Here!

We are proud to introduce MudPaint into our collection of paint lines.  MudPaint is a water based paint that is made is the USA.  It contains clay and other natural minerals.  While it does dry to a chalky finish, MudPaint does not contain chalk.

MudPaint paints beautifully and distresses easily to give you that wonderful farmhouse farmhouse finish.  It does not require a top coat, but we do encourage you to use one on high traffic surfaces such as dining tables, dressers, and coffee tables.  You can wax MudPaint or finish with their clear coat which is easily applied.

We will be debuting MudPaint at the Fall Gathering at Blue's Junk & Primitives on October 7th and 8th in Creal Springs, and at Pickin' at the Patch at Rendleman Orchards on October 14th in Alto Pass.  You can be one of the first to purchase MudPaint at these amazing events.  Afterwards, I will have the MudPaint available at Turquoise Door in Ava along with my Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint.

Be sure to follow The Painted Chest on all of your favorite social media sites!

Exciting Changes Happening!!!

The Painted Chest is MOVING!!!  That's right, I am moving into my very own store!!!  My new location will be at 1340 Walnut Street in Murphysboro, Illinois.  It's right on the corner of 14th and Walnut streets.  I can't tell you how excited I am to see my dreams coming true!

Another paint line is also coming to The Painted Chest!  Fusion™ Mineral Paint is an amazing new furniture paint made by Homestead House Paint Company, also the manufacturer of Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint.

You can learn more at Fusion™ Mineral Paint HERE.

I have also been asked to be a part of the Fusion™ Mineral Paint Leadership Team as the new Midwest Regional Merchant Trainer!!!

What does that mean?  That means that I will be teaching all of the new Midwest Fusion™ Merchants (retailers) how to use Fusion™ and its companion products as well as how to teach workshops to their own customers.

My region covers the following 11 Midwest states:  Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio.

This is also the reason why I am opening my own store, because all of those retailers will be coming to Murphysboro, Illinois for their training!!!

 Be sure to follow The Painted Chest on all of your favorite social media sites!