The trend of French painted furniture is getting more and more popular. However, you don’t have to spend on expensive painted furniture items. You can transform your present furniture using some painting techniques to give it French style furniture look.
French style furniture looks regal with it hints of gold. However, today’s French style painted furniture come with a distressed look and some hint of gold or sometimes silver. You don’t have to keep visiting stores or look online to find French country style furniture. You can make the furniture pieces present in your house look distressed and regal by hints of gold. Wondering, how to do this? Stick to these guidelines.
How to Create French Style Painted Furniture?
With some simple painting techniques you can transform your old furniture in great looking French style furniture. However, you need to keep in mind certain things when trying to paint your old furniture distressed. You need to make the furniture look rustic and distressed at the same time make it look elegant. So choose colors like soft blue, yellows or white to paint the furniture for a natural look. However, if you feel like experimenting with colors then go ahead. Also, remember some warm touches of gold is a great finishing touch.
Preparing the Furniture
Preparing the furniture is an important step which should be done with care. So, start your work in a well ventilated space. Also, make sure you have adequate workspace, so that you can keep your tools and furniture pieces comfortably. On your work surface lay down some old newspaper sheets. Then keep the furniture items and tools on it. Dress up in your old clothes and start working on the furniture. The furniture piece should be of a design which looks similar to French antique furniture. So, choose a furniture item which has carved details or curved lines on it. Then remove the upholstery or covers on the furniture. If these can’t be removed then use plastic wrap cover on it. Similarly, remove knobs or handles on the furniture or cover them with plastic too.
Painting the Furniture
Now, use a natural bristle brush and cover the entire furniture with a coat of wood primer. Let it dry completely. After this paint a coat of latex flat paint shade. This is your base coat, so it needs to be of a lighter shade than the second coat you are going to apply. Let this coat dry completely. Then apply a coat of darker shade of paint, let this layer dry away too. Generally, 24-48 hours is the time for which each layer of paint should be allowed to dry. Now, take steel wool and scrub away small areas on the surface of the furniture. This will reveal the lighter coat of the paint, and make the piece of furniture look aged.
Now, take a coarse sandpaper and sand around areas on the furniture where it would have naturally worn away. These areas are generally corners, edges and around the hardware of the furniture item. If you want country style furniture look, then leave the furniture as it is. But, if you wish to add a bit of wealth then consider painting the metal fixtures on the furniture gold. Apply a coat of dark brown to the metal fixtures on the furniture. Let it dry and then apply a layer of bright metallic gold. Then use a coarse sandpaper, and sand down at some spots on these metal fixtures to make the furniture metal also look aged yet regal.
If you don’t have the time, patience or skill then there are many reputed furniture manufacturers who sell French country style or antique style furniture. You can buy a single piece of furniture item from them or order furniture for the whole house.
