Don’t Donate That Piece of Furniture-Paint It

In this post:  I’m sharing ten examples of how a little paint can make a dated piece of furniture look like a million bucks.  Don’t throw that dresser out, paint it.

When I was young my mother would tell me to wear sensible shoes.  Shoes that wouldn’t hurt my feet and would serve me well.

I would strap on some awful high heeled shoes with no arch support or stability because I thought it was so much better to look good than to feel good.  I believed the shoes would make or break the outfit.

The problem was, I usually felt like I had broken feet at the end of the night.  I see many high school girls wear terrible shoes and clomp down the hallways making a sound that would make you think a herd of buffalo were running through the school.  I find myself chuckling and remembering those days myself.

What does this have to do with furniture?  Well, today I’m going to take you on a little furniture journey to show you that we all start out painting some misses before we final settle into our comfortable and sensible furniture makeovers.

Makeover 1

This is so bad it is taking all my will to show you this.  If you went waaay back in my archives you can see this post.  I painted and decoupaged these bookcases for Luke’s room.  They were from my parent’s garage and my dad stored his tools on them.  They were gross.  I punched these shapes out and spent soooo much time decoupaging them on to the sides of this bookcase.  As I sat on a stool hunched over gluing these all on I dreamed this was  going to go viral and I would be the next big Pinterest star. LOL.

This is my furniture painting equivalent to silver platform sandals with rhinestones and butterflies.  Just B-A-D

Clearly, I was working on form over function and was trying waaay to hard on this one.

Makeover #2

This next makeover isn’t really very awful.  I still think it is pretty but looking back now I think it is the shoe equivalent of sleek high heels with jewelry clips on the toes.  Not awful.  Kinda pretty.  But a little too much.

This was the beginning of my white wax obsession.  Kinda like my obsession with pink frosted lipstick back in the day.  I figured if white wax made this look good, it will make everything look good.  White wax gung ho!

Which bring me to…

Makeover #3

White wax with a side of white wax.  Although, this piece still looks like this today.  Things were starting to become a little more subtle for me.  It’s that moment when you realize that sometimes less is more.

Makeover #4

This next one borders on clown like now that I look at it.  This chair is sitting in the garage right now with it’s survival in those home hanging by a thread.  It may get a makeover or it may go to thrift store heaven.  We’ll see.  It’s . just. to. much.

One of my friends should have done an intervention and said, “What were you thinking?”  Black paint with metallic silver, buffalo  print and lime green cording?  Really?

Ugh.

Makeover #5

I was over the layers and layers and white wax phase and moved on to simple clean pieces of furniture painted in bright colors.  Why?

I don’t know.  It seemed like such a good idea at the time.  After all, anyone that has stood in front of a selection of paints in a local vintage shop will tell you ALL the colors look so pretty.  Why just pick one!

I would call this my shoe phase of having a pair of matching shoes for every outfit.  Every color of shoe under the sun.  Did I tell you I once had over 70 pairs of shoes?  For real.  Ridiculous.

Makeover #6

Continuing on with the theme of rainbow furniture in my home, I bring you this lovely blue beauty.  It’s still sitting in the media room this color although I think it’s blue days are numbered.

I know it’s not B-A-D like the first piece of furniture…but it isn’t me.  Hopefully you will see the progression.

Makeover # 7+

I’m giving this the plus because I seem to have a thing with end tables. I make them over and over and over.  Here’s several I’ve made over.

Wanna hear something funny?  Looking at these pictures I think I had it right the first time.

Makeover #8

I start coming into my style and realize I prefer a cute white sneaker over any of those wedge, high heels, or strappy sandals.  I’m ready for sensible shoes and style that lasts.  Right now I own about 10 pair of shoes and I’ll tell you a little secret.  You only need one color of shoe to wear with any dress under the sun.  Nude.  Nude shoes are really all you need for your high heel wardrobe.

I’ve finally learned I’m all about white, weathered wood, and a little black for good measure.

Makeover #9

I love this one.  It’s just so me.  It feels like a breath of fresh air in my house after all the white wax, green, blue, and gray.  Clean and simple.   I can’t wait to get all the furniture moving in this direction.  Bye bye blues.

Makeover #10

Luke has discovered Lucky Charms.  How is it kids figure out right away to eat everything but the marshmallows until last.  Saving the best for last starts at an early age I guess.

Here’s my best for last.

Can you see the progression?  Painting furniture is a lot like anything else in life…the more you do it the better you get.  Not just at technique…but at determining what feels right for you.

If you’ve never painted a piece of furniture before and you would like to give it a shot I’ll tell you my one piece of advice.  Go simple.  Don’t try to do too many techniques or pick wacky colors or decoupage.  No one has ever looked at a nicely painted black, white, or gray dresser and turned away in revolt.