To apply the glaze I use a rag and simply add a thin layer to the whole piece. It leaves what looks like brush strokes in some areas, which I like. I think it gives it a bit of depth. I’ll use a paint brush to push the glaze into any carved or recessed areas on the piece of furniture. This will create a nice contrast and draws attention to the details.

This little night stand was painted with Swiss Coffee in a satin finish. I use Valspar paints. It was then glazed with clear glaze that was lightly tinted with a bit of burnt umber. The burnt umber I use is a simple bottle of craft paint that I purchased at Michael’s. The clear glaze is also a Valspar product which you can find in the paint department at Lowe’s.

The first thing she did, well technically the third since it was cleaned first and sanded second, was paint the entire table with a beautiful pale green. As usual, we are using Valspar paint from Lowe’s. We both love Valspar. It goes on smooth, gets great coverage, and the price point is so good. (I’m not sponsored by Lowes. That sure would be awesome though.) Anyways, enough about the type of paint. The green was painted on with a synthetic bristle brush and allowed about 30 minutes to dry. It was a hot day today, so things were drying very quickly.

The first coat just needs to be dry to the touch to move on to the next step, which is to hand paint white accents. My mom used a small artists brush to get into the details on the legs and a one inch artists brush to paint the edge around the top of the table. She used Swiss coffee, again a Valspar paint. Both the green and the white are satin finish paints.

After about another thirty minutes had passed and the white paint was dry to the touch it was time to distress this table. My mom used 100 grit sand paper to rough up the edges of the table top and all around the decorative legs.

Next she used a clean rag to apply a thin layer of a glaze mixture all over the piece. A brush is used to get the glaze deep into the recessed areas on the legs. She used clear glaze and added black paint to it. The great thing about clear glaze is that you can make it any color you want. We also like to mix it with burnt umber for a great antiqued look. There is really no specific ratio for mixing the paint color with the clear glaze. We just mix it and play with it until we achieve the desired look.

The final step was to wax the table with Howard’s Feed-N-Wax. My mom and I love using this wax on most of our painted furniture. It is so easy to rub on and then simply buff off. It leaves a pretty luster and provides a nice layer of protection on fresh paint. We’ve tried using paste wax before and had a heck of a time with it. This wax requires far less elbow grease, it’s much easier to work worth.

So here is the finished table! Isn’t it pretty?? I think my mom did a fabulous job on this one.

I have been painting furniture for about eight years now. I have gone through a couple of different machines through the years; some I would recommend and some I would not. I won’t mention the ones I didn’t like here. Everyone has their own personal preferences and what may not have worked for me might work great for someone else.

One of the machines I used was the Graco True Coat. I wrote all about it in a previous post. You can read all about it, plus tips on how to use it, clean it, and properly store it by clicking here. I really liked this gun, but the motor is only good for about 50 gallons of paint, so I burned through a few machines rather quickly and decided I needed something that would last a lot longer. If you are just going to do a few projects around the house I would recommend this gun. If you plan on going into the business of painting you will want to invest in some different equipment, which I’ll talk about a little latter in this post.

In my opinion there are pros and cons with the Graco True Coat:

 PROS- The best thing about this gun is that it requires no thinning, ever.  All types of paint can be poured directly from the can right into this gun and all will get a perfect spray, everytime. One thing I really like about this machine is the easy clean up. Switching from one paint color to the next is a breeze, which is also a great feature. It has a nice wide spray pattern that quickly covers large surfaces; great for big pieces of furniture. The wide spray pattern makes it very easy to get a perfect smooth finish on a large flat piece of furiture in seconds.

CONS-One thing that I don’t like about it is the fact that it only sprays when held up right, so in order to paint the top of a table or dresser you have to lay the furniture on it’s side or back. The other negative thing about it is that it uses a ton of paint. It gets great coverage and looks beautiful, but goes through more paint than necessary. Because the paint goes on so heavy it makes for long dry times. The large spray pattern, which can be great in many instances, creates a ton of overspray and waist when painting small items like dining chairs.

The gun that I currently use is  a Husky Gravity Feed HVLP Spray Gun. I purchased this one at Home Depot for $49.98. This gun requires an air compressor, which can be a big purchase. An air compressor can easily cost you hundreds of dollars and is a pretty large piece of equipment to store. Well worth it if you are serious about getting into painting and plan on doing so long term.

There are also some pros and cons for the Husky HVLP spray gun:

PROS- This gun will spray side ways, up side down and, of course, right side up. This is great when painting things with spindles or curves because it allows you to get at it from many different angles. Because this gun has a gravity feed you can paint up until the very last drop of paint in the gun; not wasteful at all. Because it uses air the material being sprayed is autamized, or reduced into a fine spray. Layers of paint go on thin and smooth reducing dry times greatly. With this gun there is very little overspray and I use a fraction of the amount of paint I did with the Graco. Clean up with this gun is also incredibly easy, as is changing out to a new color. Adjustments can be made on the gun to change the spray pattern from small and round, great for small details, to thin and wide, which is great for larger pieces and big flat surfaces. This gun gets a really smooth gorgeous finish.

CONS- I have found that every paint needs to be thinned with this gun. Because each paint is different there is no specific ratio of water to paint (I use water based paints). Each time I use a new paint I add water a little at a time, do a test on a scrap piece of wood, and continue to add water until I achieve the desired spray pattern and consistency. This takes a bit of patience and can add a little time onto the job.

Here is Shelby in her new crate.

The next thing I want to do is get several vintage suitcases to stack on top of her crate. I’ll use them to conceal all of her treats, toys, and accessories. I also want to matt and frame a few pictures of our pooch and hang them above her domain. This one below is definitely being framed. It’s one of my favorite pics of Shelby with her daddy. She loves him so much!!

This night stand was painted with Swiss Coffee and then accented with a bright blue. To tone down the color, and add an aged affect, I used Minwax in Dark Walnut to stain the piece. The stain was applied with a brush and then immediately buffed off with a clean cloth.

Anyways, after the whole hutch was covered in the beige grey I then used a small brush to apply white accents. The drawers were also painted by hand, with a brush. When the paint was dry I used a plastic spatula to remove the paint covered wax and expose the raw wood underneath. Then I used 220 grit sand paper to smooth it out a bit and further distress it. The final step was to rub Watco Danish oil in Dark Walnut all over the piece. I worked in small sections applying the dark oil and then buffing it off. This step gives the piece a bit of a worn look. It gives the finish a more aged appearance.

We carry clear glass, jadeite, and root-beer amber.

TIP. When putting glass knobs on your furniture be careful not to tighten the nut too much. Use just your fingers to lightly screw the nut tight, rather than a wrench or pair of pliers. If to much pressure is on the glass it will be more prone to cracking and is likely to break after time.