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How to achieve a bright white finish on your furniture

How to achieve a bright white finish on your furniture

As a fellow professional painter - or even a newbie - we all know how hard it is to achieve a perfect white finish. That all frustrating yellowing can appear from nowhere and all your hard work and time can feel like a waste.

This discolouring to your furniture is called ‘bleed-through’ and it can be caused by natural oils in the wood or even stain marks. And you've probably already discovered that more coats of paint does not mask the problem!

1. As always, remember to prep your furniture.

As white is your desired colour, there’s nothing worse than applying clean white paint on a dirty surface! To clean your furniture, any of the following items will work:


2. Sand your product down

We would suggest using a 220 grit hand piece of sanding sponge. The aim here is to get your piece dull and ready for paint, so you don’t need to sand the furniture back to bare wood.

3. Prime your furniture

Here are our stain blocking primers:

Tip: When opting for Stain Blocker use two coats. The first coat will absorb the bleed through and the second coat will seal the surface.

 

dixie belle boss

Dixie Belle Paint Company B O S S blocks anything from bleeding through, stains and more. It's smooth, easy to apply and used to seal in nasty odours.

Although BOSS requires a 24 hour set time before applying the paint, you can apply a second coat of BOSS within 2-3 hours.

 

autentico chalk primer
Autentico Paint Primer provides a neutral undercoat to begin painting, preparation for timber prone to bleed through. This primer is designed as a system to work with Autentico eggshell, but will work well with other paints too. (also available in grey)


4. PAINT!

Our favourite white paints include...

fusion penny and co
Super durable and waterproof it can be used outside. Transforming furniture and DIY projects with little prep and no top coat needed (unless you'd like to add an extra sheen to your piece)
dixie belle fluffy soft white

Dixie belle chalk mineral paint in Fluff is a serene, soft white with a slight grey undertone. Use Fluff for traditional or modern style projects.

You can also pair this paint colour with a dark wax or even a glaze to create distressed farmhouse furniture.


5. Sand and remove dust

Dust particles can really stand out especially with white paint, so it’s important to make sure you very lightly sand and remove dust in between each coat. Again, a light wipe of the sanding sponge and remove tiny dust particles with our general finishes tack cloth will do the job and will give a smooth professional finish.

6. Apply at least another coat of white paint!

We recommend 3 coats of paint to ensure the coverage is 100% which will give you the perfect white finish.

7. Apply an eggshell finish
Because you have applied primer to your product, there really is no need to apply a top coat. If you would like to achieve a slight sheen to your finished product then I would recommend ending with the Autentico Paint - Versante Eggshell.
bright white vintage chest of drawers
It removes the need to topcoat should you want more of a sheen... which can be tricky as dust particles can make their way into topcoats and stand out a mile away. 

Don't forget to continue sending in your product pieces, we love seeing your masterpieces and sharing those with our followers on our Facebook and Instagram.

Join the Furniture Painting Hub with Shabby Nook private group on Facebook where you can also ask questions, be inspired and get support on your painting journey!

 

 

 

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