Two chairs makeover - easy and fast

These chairs I have for a very long time. Put them on the balcony and didn't know what exactly to do with them - unlike my cat who  used them during summer to nap. I decided to finally refurbish them and it was rather easy and fast project. I really could have done it years ago.

Short tutorial how to makeover chairs

Above are chairs as they look like before makeover.

First step is, as usually, to sand the wooden parts. I  did it manually wit the sand paper grade 80 (moderately rough).  It is essential to thoroughly clean the dust using wet sponge or rag. If there are some grease stains you can use some dish washing liquid. 

As I wanted to achieve shabby look, used wood stain. Put two coats of green color low-build wood stains (acrylic, of course) and one coat of transparent varnish for protection. Allow each coat to dry before putting another one. For acrylic paint it is less then 30 minutes. And voila, chairs are ready.

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Virtual painter software to help you pick up the best color for your room

I love to paint - furniture, walls, fabric. And I love to do it by myself. But sometimes I have not enough courage to try some wild paint or unusual color, particularly if this is costly - time or material. Sometimes I am pretty sure my hubby would complain. I tried some tools earlier, mostly for photo editing to simulate various colors, but this was too tiresome. Recently I discovered there are tools particularly developed for this purpose. Some big paint manufacturers offer their own software, and there are some more to be found on the net. Some tools are very simple - there are photos embeded and you are able just to chnage different colors. Others  allow you to upload your own photo and then play  colloring objects on the photo. Bellow are some free tools I tried. It is now much easier for me to make decisions. 



Colorjive is an on-line tool. You can upload your own photo, choose the color and (re)paint object on it. But nothing is perfect, of course, and some adjustment you need to do by hand. There is an excellent 3 minute Youtube video tutorial for this tool.



Resene EzyPaint is a free software you could download on the PC (ful version with all images takes 400 MB, but the customized one is just about 100 MB.) There is on-line version as well adn help is very easy to follow and very usefull. Y>ou can upload your owen photo as well.





Some manufacturers like Dulux and Sherwin Williams offer their own tool. Dulux offers just a basic, simple possibilities - to chane colors on their photos, but it could be usefull (and fast to try).

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How to clean and preserve brushes

When I began to refurbish furniture, read tons of material about paint, wood preparations, primer, fillers. I took brushes 'for granted', thought I knew enough about them. But after some bad experience figured out I have to improve my knowledge with this topic as well. First, learned which brushes to use with acrylic paint and which with oil one (see my post How to choose paint brushes). Cleaning and preserving brushes is important task, particularly if you buy better (and more expensive) ones, which I prefer. I usually use acrylic paint, cleaning tool is one of the reason - running water is the easiest way for that. With the solvent for oil based paint I can never achieve the same result. Be aware that tips below are just for the acrylic paint brushes.

Anyway, use cold running water to clean brushes immediately after the painting. Warm water will fix the acrylic resin (paint component) and paint will be sealed up for the metal part of the brush. After the washing, use paper towel or cotton rag to absorb the excess water and leave it to dry.

Keep brushes with the hair up.

From time to time it is good to make a bath for your brushes you are using the most: mix one tea spoon of sodium bicarbonate (or just one package of baking powder) with two dcl of water and put yout brushes in this solution, leave them over night. In the morning, rinse them thoroughly in cold water, use paper towel to absorb the excess water and leave them to dry. Soda releases oxigen which is very strong cleanser.

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Furniture makeover 3 - Benefits of Primer

      As the weather is improving, I am making plans for my furniture makeover - always have some pieces waiting to be refurbished. I don't have proper studio for such work, particularly for preparations eg. sanding, so I am waiting for warmer days to work outside, in the yard. Another reason is that I like to paint on daily light, as can better notice imperfections and flaws. 

      In addition to surface preparation, I usually use primer before painting and this post is actually about primer.


Read more about primer after the jump.

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How to choose between roller and brush

Is is better to paint using roller or brush? This question I asked myself a lot of time when refurbishing furniture. And  tried with various rollers and brushes to see what works best for me. I love water based, acrylic paint. For larger surfaces, with fine velur roller I achieve the best results (and much faster than with the brush). But, for oil-based paints, as they are a little bit 'sticky', roller is not so good -  fine, good quality pure-bristle brush works better for me. Sponge brushes I found good for corners, in the combination with rollers. Anyway, it is important to pay attention on the brush or roller material, as I wrote in the post How to choose paint brushes  - general rule: use polyester roller/brush for water-based paint and natural material for oil-based paint. And try different tools to get filling. You can always repaint and make changes.     My hubby sometimes doesn't like the color or technique I choose, and I always answer him: Never mind, I can always repaint it if I am not happy with  the final result. And few time I really did - something immediately, some pieces of furniture after a year or two, either I didn't like them any more, or changed the overall style or color of the space.

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How to choose paint brushes

Synthetic or natural bristle brushes?

When painting furniture people (myself too) usually pay attention to choose the right paint - color, type, supplier. For a long time I didn't take take what type of brush to choose. But if you want to achieve the professional look, this is important as well. Basically, the choice of the right brush depends on the paint you are using: for water-based (acrylic) paint, use synthetic - polyester or nylon bristles. Oil-based paints apply best with natural or pure bristle brushes. The natural fibers absorb water, swell up and lose their shape, so using them with water-based paints will cause poor result. On the other hand, 

when using a synthetic brush with an oil-based paint the solvent in the paint slightly melts the polyester or nylon hairs of the brush, clumping them together. 

After this initial choice, there are number of other features to look, like eg. density (better brushes have more bristles and they are tapered) or length, but you need some experience to see what works bets for you. What is easy to test for everyone is to try tug a few bristles out of the brush - if this is done easily, take some other brush. I have three furry pets always moving around me, and I am used to struggle with hairs left on the paint film, but honestly, this is not what I like, and what is appreciated after all preps yoe9ve done. So, choose the good brush and enjoy your work. 

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