Black furniture is often associated with shabby chic home design and Victorian furniture styles. These style types were popular in the past but are no longer. The good news is that today there is a huge range of black furniture options to choose from. You can make shabby chic furniture look fabulous or decorate your home in a bold and sexy style. If you love black, you will want to know how do you distress black painted furniture? Here are some tips for choosing and maintaining your black furniture:
Carefully think about what type of black paint you use to finish off your furniture. Be careful not to use latex or oil-based paints because these types of paints will deepen the shade of the furniture, leaving it with an old washed appearance. While many distressed furniture owners choose black furniture with a distressed finish because they love the effect, you may regret this later when the piece starts to show signs of wear and tear.
Most modern furniture is made using either white or black paint. While both of these colors are very popular, you might want to consider how do you distress black furniture made from other types of wood. The color of wood often tells the story of the era of the furniture, so if you find pieces dating back to the 19th century in antique shops, you can probably assume that the piece is made from cherry or mahogany, which are much darker than today’s light wood colors.
The final step in knowing how do you stain black furniture is learning how to sand the piece before staining. When buying furniture, or when you are making repairs to already existing pieces, always see to it that the wood is properly stained before you begin staining. This can be done by hand or with a paint sander. A paint sander has a small wheel that spins at high speeds. This tool can effectively roughen up any uneven surface, reducing the visible lines on the finished piece.
Once you know how do you distress black painted furniture, the next question is whether you should use oil or latex paint. Both can successfully be used to paint the piece. Although latex dries faster than oil, many homeowners do not feel that it is an ideal choice for black furniture. The drying time for oil paint is relatively short, while latex needs to be allowed to dry between layers of application. If you opt for oil paint, you should make sure that the piece is completely dry before you begin staining.
Before staining the piece, remove all hardware and door hardware. If you cannot remove them, you may need to use a knife and cut off the doorstops. Next, apply a coat of latex paint. If you are planning to stain the entire piece, you may only need one coat. Just make sure that your choice of color is appropriate.
Once you have decided how do you distress black painted furniture, you should allow the piece to dry completely. Wait at least 24 hours between coats of latex or oil paint. If possible, try to give the piece a couple of days to air dry between coats. Once you feel that the piece is dried, you may apply a protective coating of wax to help keep the piece looking as good as new.
When you find yourself with a distressed piece of furniture, there are some things that you can do to get it back to looking new. First, try using a furniture stripper. This may be your best bet if you don’t want to use the tips found above. However, the strippers discussed below can also be used to strip paint from wood, metal, or even plastic items. In addition, you can buy products on the Internet that will strip paint from almost anything.