Painting furniture

ehicks

Anyone have experience with painting furniture?

DDs old nursery furniture will now be the new baby's... and it previously belonged to my brother. Its older furniture but its dark brown wood and really nice.

After moving it twice though it could use some TLC. I just spent A LOT of money on DDs big girl room and wanted to try to reuse as much as possible from her nursery.

What type of paint should I get? Would it all need sanded down or can I paint on top of it?

DDs bed railing has bite marks on it from when she was teething haha so I was going to sand it down and redo it but I'm concerned about painting a bed because I don't want this kid to eat it! So maybe just those bed rail covers?

Any suggestions would be awesome! Its dark wood so I am hoping to do it in a lighter color! 

cmhicklin

You definately will have to sand it.  And if you are doing a lighter color,  probably a coat of primer too.  With the crib, you could paint it, but also do a cloth rail cover to match your bedding.

sbekake

I agree with pp - sand and primer for the best look. If you're worried about your new little one chewing on the rails with the paint, look for a low-no VOC non-toxic indoor latex paint (most in the US are low VOC to begin with, though some are labeled as 'green'). Give the furniture a once over with the sander (sand paper is ok, the electric hand-helds are better) and wipe it down. I usually use mineral spirits but I'd just go with some water to get the dust off. Then prime (grey if you are using a color paint, white if you are using a white or pastel base) wait for it to dry and LIGHTLY sand again. Wipe with water and paint! You should't have to sand off all of the old finish, you just need to 'rough it up' so the paint will stick. Then buy some crib rails for extra no-chew protection and viola! New furniture!