Sand Art Crafts

How do I paint an old dresser? Is it necessary to do more than just clean and lightly sand the finish?

I bought an old walnut dresser. I want to give it a funky southwestern look by painting it a variety of colors- turquoise, yellow, red and brown, with some mexican folk art on the face of the drawers. Any suggestions?

Public Comments

1. As you said, the first step is to clean and sand. Use a 60 grit to scuff it. This will help the paint to adhere. Next, roll on a coat of a good primer, such as Zinsser 1-2-3. Finally, apply 2 coats of your finish. Hope this helps.
2. Clean first, sand lightly next, wipe with a tacky cloth and then go to town with your painting. I admire you for having the guts to paint it wild. I am always so reluctant to paint a good wood.
3. Sounds like there have been a lot of different painting ideas and techniques used on this piece of furniture. First, cleaning is essential not only to get off any dirt but to also remove any wax or oil build up that may have accumulated by different cleaning or waxing products. Use a cleaner that can remove oil and grease and that is alright to use on wood. Just read the back of some of you own household cleaners and you may find that they will work. Once you get that done, I agree that you will need to lightly sand the dresser, but be careful not to use to heavy a grit of sand paper. You can use one the pad or sponge type sanding blocks since they are very flexible and easy to use. I would use a 120 grit paper to scuff up the surface just a little, wipe off the excess dust with a tack clothe, and then coat the unit with a good primer. There are water and oil based primers you can use and BIN, made by Zinsser, has some good products to choose from. After you apply the primer and it is good and dry, please read the label concerning the drying time and also allow for different humidity levels, then take a find sand paper to smooth off the surface, use a tack clothe to wipe off the dust and they you can apply your paint. Behr is one of the best paints out there which you can buy at Home Depot. If you follow this method you should achieve excellent results. I hope this helps. Rick