Give Old Wood Pieces the Brushoff : Painting Techniques Can Revive Furniture

Every home has at least one piece of undistinguished furniture that has seen a better day--a chest you found in your grandmother’s attic, a chair you picked up at a garage sale.

More and more, people are trying their own hand at an age-old refurbishing technique: hand-painted wood furniture.

“The greatest joy in (this) is in transforming furniture that nobody else wants into something of interest and intrigue,” says Annie Sloan, author of “Simple Painted Furniture” (Grover Weidenfeld, 1989), a guidebook on the techniques in hand-painted wood pieces. “There is great satisfaction in creating something beautiful from your own work and efforts. I can’t think of anything better I’d like to do to relax and unwind than paint an old, tired chair. Give it some new color--and life.”

Chairs, tables, chests, beds, headboards, cupboards and benches respond well to refurbishing, especially techniques such as distressing, wood graining, dragging, combing, sponging, marbling and crackling--all of which not only add color, but texture and pattern to plain pine and various woods.

Today’s painted furniture techniques come from two rather distinct traditions: the European chinoiserie style, imported from the Orient, combined with lacquer work, and the Northern European peasant folk art abundant in Sweden, Bavaria and Switzerland. Immigrants of Scandinavian and German descent developed them into a unique style known as Pennsylvania Dutch. Today, modern art techniques, style and color invest the woodwork with a bolder look: a blue-and-white polka-dot chest is just as likely to be seen in a room as a cream-gilted, black brocade chair.

Once you have chosen the piece of furniture you want to refurbish, decide on the color, technique and tools you will use. There is no limit to your color palette, but six color schemes are most prevalent in hand-painted furniture.

* For a traditional Swedish or Northern European look, use deep greens and blues, and pinkish terra cotta. They appear not only in classical Gustavian furniture, but also in more rustic pieces.

* Early American folk art is usually colored in deep green, brick red and buttermilk yellow. These were shades favored by Scandinavian and German settlers, who used the colors to decorate barns and quilts.

* Bold colors and striking shapes suggest the Memphis style of contemporary furniture. Try a few intense, vibrant colors set against black and white with some pastel shading and executed in characteristic geometrical shapes.

* The Omega Workshops, a certain style created by Roger Fry and Vanessa Bell and others, approached furniture decor in a painterly way. Classical images painted in soft yellows, pinks and blue-grays were central to the theme.

* The Venetian furniture makers favored the more subtle and sophisticated colors, such as warm terra cotta and deep forest green, yellow ocher, soft ivory and gold.

* The distinct chinoiserie style is richly colored on a black background with gold, burnt orange and ivory used as overlays.

The preparation of the furniture depends upon the type of wood used. All bare wood, whether new or stripped of old paint, needs a coating of primer and undercoat before any other paint is applied, unless you wish to stencil directly on the wood, or lime or bleach it.

Old gloss paint, if clean, can be covered directly, but the surface must be free of stains, dirt and dust. Use mild liquid soap and water to clean the surface, making sure the surface is dry before you apply any paint.

Chemical strippers are normally more suitable for furniture, and are particularly suitable for carved or molded pieces and very thick, old paint work. Liquid stripper, which is effective on layers of varnish and one or two layers of paint, should be brushed on thickly with an old brush and can be scraped off after a few minutes. Always wear gloves when working with a chemical stripper.

Dents, scratches and other minor damage may exist on an older piece of furniture. To raise a dent in solid wood, lay a damp cloth on it and then apply a heated soldering iron directly over the damage. The steam generated will swell the wood, pushing the crushed fibers back to their original level. For small holes, as in wood worm, press melted wax scrapings into them using a knife or chisel blade. Then burnish with a piece of sandpaper.

Be sure to complete each surface painting in one session to prevent dried paint lines from forming. Cover a small area with two or three strokes applied in the direction of the wood grain. Then change direction and spread the paint lightly to cover the surface. Work back again with the grain, finishing with an upward stroke. Reload the brush and, leaving a gap the width of the brush, move on to paint a parallel strip. Then paint across to fill in the area between strips.

There are also many painting techniques other than your traditional brush-on which can add character and texture to your piece:

“Sponging on” is one of the simplest and quickest techniques to producing an informal speckled effect. Put a sponge directly into the paint and pat it over the surface, varying the pressure to create an even pattern.

“Sponging off” is more difficult but produces a nice cloudy or speckled effect. Paint the piece with a standard brush and then dab the moistened sponge over the surface to lift the glaze and produce the speckled effect.

The effect of “color washing” depends upon whether a cloth or a brush is used to wipe off the glaze. A thin layer of tinted glaze over an eggshell base coat is wiped off with a brush or cloth in large sweeping strokes. Color washing is really only suitable for large object because the effect is so loose, and is best confined to dining tables, wardrobes and cupboards.

“Dragging” produces fine, subtle lines that give furniture elegance and an impression of height. After a thin layer of tinted glaze is placed over the dry base coat, drag a flogging brush vertically over the surface with enough pressure to produce lines. Always follow the grain of the wood.

“Stippling” produces a delicate speckled finish that appears flat when viewed from a distance, but up close gives the surface an appearance of depth. It looks particularly good on carved objects and moldings. A stipple brush is used over the layer of tinted glaze.

“Ragging” produces a dappled decorative finish by using a loosely crumpled cotton rag to lift the glaze before it has been allowed to dry. “Ragrolling” is a combination of ragging and stippling.

“Combing” is an ancient decorative technique: the effect produced is stripy, as the glaze is lifted off where the teeth of the comb touch the surface. Beautiful patterns can be created: swirls, triangles, zigzags, crisscrosses, scallops and basket weaves.

“Decoupage” is simple, cheap and successful on many types of furniture. Various materials are usable, including snippets from magazines, newspapers, photographs, greeting cards and pressed flowers. The wider the range of colors and subject matter, the better. After gluing your scraps, cover with a damp cloth, and apply varnish over the surface.

Printing and stenciling can also be done on painted surfaces: Blocks with numerous shapes can be made from anything from wood to potatoes. Paint the block shape with a brush and apply directly to the base-coated surface. Stenciling requires a traced cut-out design, placed over the wood surface and then painted over.

To do “Cracklure,” apply two types of varnish (cracking and aging varnishes), each with a different drying time, to produce a cracked surface as the chemicals in the two varnishes work against each other. Apply the aging varnish and while still sticky, apply the cracking varnish to make the cracks appear.

For more information, read “Painting Furniture: A How-to Guide to an Ancient Art” by Jocasta Innes (Pantheon Books, 1991).