My sister has some old chairs and other items made by Stag Furniture. The wood is quite dark and she wants to lighten her rooms so is going to paint them white. I said that once she does she'll never get them back again if she changes her mind (is that right?).
So views please. Is it a good idea? Should she worry? What is the best way to go about it?
it's a ton of work to strip it off, so not normally done
All the white painted wood furniture I've seen soon looks like crap. There's a reason it isn't more popular, despite the huge promotion by upcycling tv shows.
how would that be useful?
don't. If you must, then spray it, otherwise it's going to look like crap from day 1.
NT
If they are nicely varnished to a smooth finish then the paint will sit on top and could at least in principle be stripped off again. Much harder to get off if the paint pigment goes into the wood grain.
It is a heck of a lot of work (expensive) to undo though.
Practice on a scrap chair bought secondhand first. Getting a good even paint finish on complex shaped furniture is distinctly non-trivial.
It will be a blotchy mess unless its rubbed down and painted correctly but if you want your varnish back its a strip down to wood and start again job. If the furniture cleans up well and its worth money, flog it and get some that match what you want, unless you want to have the place smelling of paint for months. Brian
We had some old dark furniture that had been painted white. Heavy sideboards and a dressing table, I think. They were ordered out to the shed years ago and I have a drill and a milling machine bolted on to the tops of them. I wouldn't ever try to paint decent varnished furniture white, having seen the results on these or other things like wardrobes. We took some chairs to the tip. All this was left by previous owners in various houses over the years.
In message , Brian Gaff writes
Thanks all - my fears seem well founded and will advise sis accordingly.
Give it a light sand so it has a key, then prime with a good primer and paint like normal after that (preferably an undercoat and top coat)
Theo
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