Or if it’s a real problem piece, you might have to sand it down to the raw wood. For slick/shiny surfaces, clean it first then give it a couple coats of primer. If the surface is oily or has a lot of residue, try wiping it down with Odorless Mineral Spirits. If your piece has an oily finish, has been repeatedly cleaned with Pledge, or just has a super slick and shiny surface, your paint may not stick well. I typically do two coats of primer on bleeders, but every once in a while you’ll have a piece that needs more. Not to worry, you can prime right over your existing coat of paint (both paint on and spray primers), then keep painting when your primer is dry. S ometimes you don’t realize it’s going to be a bleeder until you already have a coat of paint on it and can see the stain seeping through. If it’s more than just a spot or two, or if I have a hunch before I get started that it’s going to bleed, I prime the entire piece with a paint-on primer like Zinsser Bulls Eye 123. We love this stuff and always have it on hand.

If there’s just a small spot or two that’s bleeding, an easy fix it to spray it with a couple coats of Zinsser Bulls Eye Shellac. If it’s really stubborn, you can use a hot iron over the damp towel to steam it and loosen the glue.Ĭertain types of wood and some water stains will bleed through paint. Let it hang out for a bit and it will help loosen the glue. Then place a damp towel over the remaining sections. To remove the veneer pull off the loose sections. Most pieces have solid wood under the veneer so you can just remove it and paint the wood underneath without replacing the veneer. If the veneer is too far gone to try repairing it, your best bet it to completely remove it. In addition to that technique, you can also use regular wood filler to fill small missing sections. We wrote a step by step tutorial for filling missing veneer with Bondo here. Any loose veneer needs to be fixed or removed prior to painting. If your piece has veneer, carefully check to make sure none of the veneer is loose or peeling.

I rarely get the other two off the shelf. We have three different power sanders and this one is by far my favorite.

If a large portion of the surface is rough, flaky, or it has a sloppy existing paint job with lots of drip marks, we’ll smooth it out with our favorite sander. Sand it smooth when dry and you’re ready to go. It also goes on purple and dries light tan or white so it’s easy to see when it’s dry. It has a smooth consistency, is easy to work with and dries quickly. Elmer’s Color Change Wood Filleris our favorite. Chalk paint is a thicker paint and can cover minor unevenness in the finish, but for the most part if you start with a rough surface, you’re still going to have a rough surface after paint.įill deep scratches with wood filler. When your piece has deep scratches, gouges or an uneven finish, it needs to be filled and/or sanded. Some links in this post are affiliate links. So we decided to put together a list of things to look for before you start painting furniture pieces and how to fix them. It’s scratched and peeling and dirty, and if you just whip out a brush and start painting, you probably won’t end up with the best results. Because when you’re working with used furniture, it’s typically been loved on for quite a few years. With that being said, there’s very rarely a piece of furniture that goes through our shop that doesn’t need some type of prep work before paint. A quick cleaning is typically all you need. And the answer is yes and no.Ĭhalk paint adheres to furniture beautifully without the use of primer and (usually) no sanding. We get a lot of questions from people new to chalk paint who want to know if it truly is a no-prep paint.

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