The How-Tos of Painting my Buffet

Last week, I posted the BEFORE:

and the AFTER:

of my dining room buffet. For more before and after pics, see last week's post here. . also tells you the reason why I decided to paint this "antique" black.

Here are the how-tos as promised. And answers to your questions that you emailed and left in the comments.

This post by Just A Girl was my inspiration. I have saved lots of painted furniture posts in my favorites, but this one made me Go For It! Like right then, I loaded the kids in the car and headed to Benjamin Moore and bought the paint and came home.

I did NOT clean my buffet except for a simple wipe down with a wet rag and I did NOT prime it. I simply slapped the paint on the thing with a foam roller and a foam brush to get in the crevices. . . took me maybe 2 hours.

Well Rob helped and the kids wanted to so I let them paint. . as long as I could possibly handle. .which was all of about 15 minutes and then I suggested they go watch a movie (which is a big treat in our household). So maybe a little longer than 2 hours if you are going to do it by yourself. Or maybe less, if you do not have the kids around. . I think the kids help and Rob's help evened out :) And yes, I had a headlamp on. . the light in my dining room in dining light, not project light. :)

The key is the paint. . Benjamin Moore Low Lustre Metal and Wood Paint. I used the latex paint. .in the turquoise can. . easier to clean, not as smelly, quicker dry time. . but it does come in oil (a red can) and you may need that if you are painting over a piece that is already painted with oil paint. . you would have a adhesion problem if you painted latex over oil.

The guy at Benjamin Moore told me to test the latex and let it dry for 4 hours ( I could only wait an hour and then put the hair dryer on it. . I wanted to paint it then!) and if it adhered, to go for it. If it scraped off with your fingernail, then come back in and exchange it for the oil kind.

The paint is the key. . best paint I have ever worked with and I have painted a lot of furniture. This paint only required ONE coat. . and NO priming!! The paint was about $20 for a quart. . a little more expensive than normal but oh so worth it in the time and frustration and patience you save!!!

And this paint comes in set colors, but you can also get custom colors made in this kind of paint. Note: the black paint goes on a dark green, even looks dark green in the can, but it dries black.

For more Do-It-Yourself Home Projects, check out A Soft Place to Land's DIY party here and Poppies at Play's Creative Cats Frfiday here for lots of inspiration. Warning: the hours go by quickly as you are perusing all those projects. :)