2 mins
By Cressida Bell
Katrina Harper-Lewis asked me several questions for an article she wrote for House & Garden. It is called: 'How to paint furniture and bring a unique decorative touch to your home.' It's full of great tips and I highly reccomend you read it here. But I thought I'd share with you my answers in full.
What's the best way to try furniture painting for a beginner? What surfaces work best? Do you have to sand and prime before painting furniture?
I think it’s best to try something simple. This may sound obvious but people forget that (for instance) a chair has numerous surfaces and takes ages to paint. A small table is probably easiest, or maybe a door. Flat, uncomplicated surfaces are ideal. You do ideally need to sand the surface unless it is plain untreated wood. Any varnish needs to be removed, or at least keyed before painting. I don’t generally use primer as I find a first coat of emulsion paint does the same job.
What's the absolute essential kit for furniture painting?
Paint (of course). I use bog standard vinyl matt emulsion with a plain base colour to start with. You can get 250ml Dulux Colour Sampler pots in thousands of shades. Then a ruler, a couple of paint brushes, paper for both the design and for templates (see below), a pencil and rubber and lots of kitchen roll for wiping brushes, clearing spills etc. Varnish; I really don’t like the new water-based ones as they dry too quickly and use brush marks. Try to get polyurethane clear matt varnish. White spirit for clean up.
How to paint patterns on furniture? Are stencils a good idea or are they old fashioned?
I am very particular about making the pattern evenly spaced so I will make a scale drawing first. Any motif can then be drawn to size on paper/card first – which you can then use as a template. I often use found objects – plates, rolls of tape etc to draw around too. The design should first be drawn on the base coat so that you know that it fits. Scale up from your drawing using a calculator. Erase and adjust as necessary. I use a ruler and often a set square to help with this. Keeping it simple always works. A border or two and then a central motif works well. I use templates to draw around rather than stencils as it’s easier to see what you’re doing. If you are sponging on a pattern you might need a stencil (made with stencil paper) but I seldom do that. Having a good paint brush helps a lot. I have lots and try out several per project until I find the one that works for me. You want one that holds enough paint but is small enough for details. If the paint is thick dilute it with water until it flows easily - and maybe decant it into a smaller pot for ease of use.
What are the easiest furniture painting techniques for beginners?
Keep it simple. The table I painted for my Greek house (see picture above) was done with minimal resources so it’s just circles (using a plate as a template) and spots. Anything geometric works well too, but you will need a steady hand if there are straight lines involved. I’m not big on freehand painterly patterns personally, but you could make a random pattern with leaf shapes (for example) quite easily. Just get yourself a template and draw the leaves on until you have a pleasing pattern. In The New York Times Style Magazine’s 'Crafting With T' series I shared my step-by-step guide to help you paint your own leaf pattern onto a shade at home. You can read the article in full here.
What is the number one rule for painting furniture?
Just take the plunge and don’t be too timid. Remember you can always wash off a mistake – or paint it out. That is the great joy of using water based paint.
