How to Repaint an Old Furniture

Over the last few months, I’ve worked to prepare a new bedroom for my daughter since she’ll need to vacate the nursery by next month. Now that the walls are painted, the curtains bought (and almost hung), bedding acquired, and furniture found, it’s time to start putting the pieces together. This weekend, my job was to get her furniture ready to move in.

At our church’s last rummage sale, we found a wonderful twin bed and frame for $10. It was the perfect size and design for her bedroom, but the frame itself wasn’t in the greatest shape, and the previous owners had painted it blue for their son. Many dents and dings in the headboard and places where the paint had either rubbed or peeled away.

After working down all the surfaces with heavy-grit sandpaper, the original beauty of the headboard began to shine through again. I was able to work out most of the problem areas and clean up a few of the scars of this furniture’s eventful life with a little elbow grease. Then I followed it up with a fine-grit paper to leave a nice, smooth surface.

I invested about an hour to work the headboard back into shape, and it made a difference. Most of the blue was gone, and the piece looked refreshed – almost as if it was happy that someone was putting in the effort to make it beautiful again.

Once the sanding was complete and I wiped down the wood, it was ready to accept the paint. To speed the project and eliminate the difficulty of brushing paint into tough corners, I opted to coat it with quality spray paint.

Working with spray paint takes a decent amount of patience and a steady hand; otherwise, the paint job will come out poorly. You have to take short, even strokes and never let your hand stop in one place for any amount of time, or you’ll end up with drips.

And if you’re working outside, you have to constantly fight the wind so your paint will go on its intended target instead of the neighbor’s car.

But after two coats of white satin enamel spray paint, the headboard looks almost brand new. It now has a paint job that will last, and it will fit in nicely with its new home.

So, for less than $20, my daughter had a complete bed, frame, and headboard that matches her new room that would have cost over $100 if I bought it new. If you’re willing to put in the effort of finding quality furniture pieces and then refinishing them with love, you can save a tremendous amount of money and fill your house with renewed furniture that will last for years.