PAINTING OVER VENEER - DIY - TUTORIAL

A "brighter" future for my dining room...

Over the Holidays I realize how dark my dining room was...
... not only because it lacks natural light exposure, it is also in the core of the house where light is scarce and I have very dark hardwood floors so... I thought of a little transformation that will cause huge possible impact on a dime.

I wasn't going to paint  my gorgeous floors, I was just thinking on painted the largest piece of furniture in that room, the dining table.

Yes, it was a large square table for 8 and YES, it was espresso color veneer but, I did it and this is how...

 I didn't feel too bad about painting this table because it was already damaged beyond repair...Gosh, I hate veneer wood!

 I started by priming the entire surface using a brush at first.

 but half way there I realize a small rollers would be better for this project...

 I primed the legs as well, of course.

I primed 3 coats on the top and 2 on the legs for optimum cover. 

and this is how it looked all primed up!

I've also re-coated the legs with white trim and doors paint (left over I had) for a full coverage and clean look to contrast with my light wood plank-look table top.

Two hours latter, the primer was dry so I proceeded with my finishing plan... the chalk paint!! I bought a golden mud shade by Americana Decor for about $15 CAD at Walmart Canada.

I brushed lightly at first starting at the center of the table and consistently on one direction to create a soft wood grain effect.

Chalk paint dries very quickly so before that happens sand off on the same direction as the painted wood grain that you've just created with the chalk paint. You need to act fast because if the pain dries you'll need to sand off twice as much, believe me!

You want to sand the chalk paint using a coarse and medium coarse grits and don't forget to create knots and random scratches if you want a more "natural" look.

don't ignore the edges either!!

Now the fun part...I'm going to show you a little technique I've invented (I think I did but maybe someone else did before me, dunno! :0)

I'm going to turn this 3 leaf table top in to a 9 plank table top by using a very easy, easy - EASY trick...

Guiding yourself with a straight item such as, a piece of cardboard or a ruler, calculate you plank dimensions and scratch off with sand paper along the line, like so...

They don't have to be perfect, just straight. 

Remember to finish the side of the table to resemble the planks ends using the same exact system.

From close isn't exactly realistic looking...

but at first glance... WOW! 

I continued by coating the table top with durable, water based, polyurethane. This crystal clear product will protect my table from many messy diners to come.

Lovely isn't it?

I hope you got some ideas for your next project, if you did, don't forget to send me a pic.

Gracias for visiting my Blog!!

See part II of this project "Embellishing furniture"

P.S
About the Primer...


I used B.I.N
(from Walmart at $34 CAD)
because I heard it was good for most surfaces. It took a bit of work to get it to cover the way I wanted to but at the end it was worth it. I think the paint adhered to it very nicely but now the durability test is yet to be proven...
I'll keep you posted!