Painting

Painting. Not my favorite thing to do, but I can do it. No, not fancy painting. Not portraits, landscapes, still life, faux wall painting, or the popular chippy distressed furniture painting. Just basic painting.

This was my latest project just this past Wednesday. Something I have been wanting to do for some time.

Dry sink needing a make-over.

Dry sink needing a make-over.

We constructed this dry sink from a kit about 40 years ago. So is it considered “vintage” now? Maybe. Over four decades ago I painted the dry sink orange, antiqued it, and applied the decals. And there it has set, looking dreadful, until Wednesday. We were tired of the color and those outdated decals. I had wanted to try chalk paint for some time and this piece was going to be my beginner’s refurb paint project. After all, there wasn’t much else I could do to harm the appearance of this piece of furniture.

I used Miss Lillian’s NO-Wax Chock Paint in French Country. They told me at the store that this paint is very easy to apply and to be sure to use an old brush of poor quality. That didn’t sound too bad. I could do that. The label on the bottle described the paint as “Delicately textured & chock full of colorful goodness. No stripping, sanding, or waxing required!” Pretty simple, although I did do a little sanding before I applied the paint. The paint was thick but I still needed to apply two coats to cover the orange.

Dry sink after painting with

Dry sink after painting with Miss Lillian’s French Country No-Wax Chock Paint.

I think the dry sink turned out good although it is a little more pristine than I really wanted. Maybe it was that second coat of paint. Eventually I may sand some of the edges to give it a used/worn look. At least it has a new fresh look in a much softer color. The finish is softer, too, not shiny like the previous old polyurethane finish.

My grandma Schumm also liked painted furniture and she painted her share of tables and chairs over the years.

My mom did not care for painted furniture, probably because she grew up with it. Or, as someone once suggested, rich-looking, natural wood furniture was owned by the more well-to-do families while the families of modest means had painted furniture. I don’t know if that is true of not, but for whatever reason, when my mom acquired Grandma’s painted furniture she stripped all the paint off and brought them back to their natural wood finish.

My mom very much liked to refinish furniture. She actually refinished many pieces for me over the years. I would pick up old items at auction and she would make them look beautifully “new” again. She had a lot of patience for that and didn’t mind scraping off all that old varnish, sanding the wood, restaining it, and then putting a final finish back on.

Grandma had a nice drop-leaf table that she had painted green. I remember my mom telling me what a job it was to remove all that green paint, especially on the turned legs. It really is a beautiful wood table now.

Grandma's drop-leaf table refinished by my mom.

Grandma’s drop-leaf table refinished by my mom.

Grandma’s favorite paint color had to be green. It was the color she used most often although she did have some black chairs. She used several shades of green paint and I have two of her green benches.

One of Grandma's old painted benches.

One of Grandma’s old painted benches. Note the chippy paint!

I also have three of Grandma’s four old green table chairs. My mom tried to remove the green enamel paint from the fourth chair but that paint stripping process did not go well for her. The fourth chair, with its half-removed blistered paint, remains in a shed. The three chairs I have look good and I do not find the green paint objectionable at all.

One of Grandma Schumm's green chairs.

One of Grandma Schumm’s green chairs.

I guess I am a mixture of both my Mom and my Grandma. I like the beauty of wood but I also really like the look of painted furniture, especially pieces that have old chippy-paint. I will not paint over a piece of furniture with nice looking wood, but on the other hand, I will not strip the paint off a painted piece. I actually seek out painted pieces.

Or maybe I am just lazy! Either way saves me a lot of work!

For my next painting project I will be painting some walls.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.