Expert: Eileen Cronk - 1/15/2008

Question
My mother in law recently gave us the first bedroom set her and her husband bought. It is 50-60 years old. It is a poster bed with a dresser and a mirrored vanity set. It has been painted and has yellowed. My daughter had moved into a new home and one of her bedroom is a dark red- maroon color with white trim. We would like to paint or distress this furniture for her spare room. We were thinking of black. What kind of paint and how do you suggest we paint this bedroom set? We are excited but scared about the process. We had someone tells us that they would do it for $770. but that is not in their budget. Please help

Answer
Hi Donna
Nice to hear from you.
My goodness this would be out of my budget too.
Donna there is no reason to be apprehensive about doing this yourself.
It will be easy.
First remove the mirror from the vanity.
There will be support struts that are screwed into the back.
Lay the mirror face down and remove the mirror or mirrors from the frames. Also look on the back of the glass for a date. This will be the exact date your set was made.
Next you must remove all handles, pulls etc. from the pieces.
Next you must prep the surface so the new paint will stick.
Prepping can be done 2 ways.
The first is a sanding with 120 grit sandpaper. In hard to get areas, medium steel wool will do to rough the surface.
The other way to prep is by scrubbing with a TSP solution using medium steel wool pads as scrubbers.
You may still have to sand any areas where the paint may have chipped in order to get the surface smooth.
Very simple so far isn't it?
Next is the priming. If you are lucky and can find black water based primer, great. One coat of that.
If you cannot find black primer, you will have to get white or actually grey will be a better choice under black.
Next is your top coat.
A good quality water based semi gloss enamel is what I would use. Not gloss as it will show every finger mark.
Next is the method of application.
I would use one of those 4 inch foam rollers for the flat areas, and a good quality brush for the other areas.
Donna always buy your brushes and rollers at the time and same place as you get the paint. Always ask.."Is this the correct roller and brush for this paint?".
Now your ready to dig in. And the total cost should be under $70.00....a $700.00 saving..gotta love it.
Good Luck and please do not hesitate getting back to me if you have further questions
Regards
Eileen
PS..stay away from distressing if you have never done it.
This is too big a project I feel, and the result could be dismal.