Prepping wood surfaces for painting

After making sure that you picked the color you want. start by removing hardware from a piece, filling any of the hardware holes and other spots. Next we sand the piece. Most of the time I sand by hand with 150 or 220 grit sandpaper. Sanding sponges work great for the flat areas. We fold the sandpaper to get into some of the crevices and details, or on curved parts of a piece. I don’t tend to use an electric sander, but if do it’s usually on the top of a piece that has a chipped or peeling finish that needs to be smoothed out. Once we’ve sanded, We vacuum the piece and then wipe it down with a damp cloth to remove any dust particles. ”If you are filling hardware holes, use a wood filler that is as close to the color of the wood you painting as possible”. Most of the pieces I paint have a medium to dark wood finish, and a light wood filler will show through even after 3-4 layers of paint. I use a wood filler that is tinted darker and it solves this problem.

Now, one thing you have to know that with most paint can leave a lot of variation. You get lighter and darker streaks since it is made from natural pigments. Special wood paint will also soak into wood (which is why it leaves such a durable finish), but if you have a piece that is sanded to raw wood in certain areas and not in others (either from the prep you did, or just from wear over time), this will most likely come through the paint. Those areas (scratches, water rings, dents, stains) will appear lighter or darker, so even though they have been covered they will still be noticeable. don’t mind this to a certain extent. Obviously when restoring or painting old furniture there is wear and tear, but that’s part of the story and history of a piece. Other times, a piece is just abused and has problems you may not want to show through the paint. To deal with this I would recommend sealing the piece with clear shellac.