Expert: Eileen Cronk - 9/22/2008

Question
I'm not sure if what I did is right or I just did a big mess, I sanded my old wood furniture and then applied a white primer because I thought that you had to apply primer before repainting. I don't know what my next step is now because I've been reading things on the internet and it says not to apply primer. Should I just go ahead and apply my desired paint or is there something else I have to do?

Answer
Hi Jacqueline
Nice to hear from you.
Rest assured you did nothing wrong at all.
Heres my take on priming.
If we have a raw piece of wood we are going to paint then priming is necessary.
If we have a finished piece we are going to paint over, its helpful after a light sanding to apply a coat of primer if we are going from dark to light paint or from a dark finished piece to painting light.
Now if that same piece is painted light and you are repainting light again, there is no need to prime but it certainly will not hurt the finished piece in any way.
And actually a coat of primer saves doing a coat of paint.
So go ahead and apply your desired paint. You did the right thing.
Kind Regards
Eileen