PAINTED FURNITURE – Exploring Colour

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been on a home “refresh” kick and as my Thanksgiving deadline looms closer (it’s 11 weeks away!!!) I find more projects to keep me up at night.  A few weeks ago I decided that my bathroom needed tidying up, two weeks ago I realized that I wanted to paint our interior doors white, and this week it was goodbye bookshelves and hello built-ins (which of course means painting the coffee table and sideboard to match).

A little paint has made a huge difference in updating older pieces to fit into our updated space.  Fresh paint is also a great way to refinish furniture or accessories bought on a budget at consignment stores or yard/estate sales.  The prep work is identical to the steps I took when painting the doors  and the transformation can be just as dramatic.

There are a lot of woodwork paints available these days but one of our favourites has been Muralos’ Ultra Waterbourne enamels.  They try quickly with no smell, clean up with water and can be tinted to thousands of colours.  Our next favourite, especially in bright colours like fire engine red and sunny yellow are marine paints made by Epifanes.  Because they’re oil paints they will take a little longer to dry and ventilation is mandatory but they have a brilliant durable gloss and can be loaded into spray cans for small areas or hard to reach corners.

Don’t forget to have fun and experiment with colour and design.  Tape out a fun pattern in a bold shade.

Need some ideas to get you motivated?  I pulled a bunch from around the internet.  Click on the images to be redirected to their original sites (often with helpful tips and step by step instructions).  Enjoy!