How to sand and paint wood furniture

Since summer is so close to coming to an end and college will be starting in less then a month. One of the lasts things I needed to get, was a desk. All throughout high school I used my bed as my desk. I felt that it wasn't going to cut it once college started. So I've been looking online for desks. Specifically  a black desk to match my other furniture. I realized that the desks I really liked were far to much for my budget. After mentioning it to my mom, she suddenly remembered that we have this sofa end table that no one has used for years. So I went up and moved it into my room and Whaalaa! It fit perfectly. The only problem was, it was a light brown color. So I did some research on how to paint wood furniture and I came across this blog, called thefrugalgirl http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/ where I found a great post on how to do it at a low cost. So the next day I went out and bought the same materials she used. So now I will insert pictures of my project.

So this is the table after I sanded it. I did it manually so It wasn't the best sanding job but I hoped it would still work. I used a medium grit sheet to sand. I'm not exactly sure what the number was but it was one we already had. By the way, when sanding make sure to use a face mask in order to avoid breathing in the wood dust, which is harmful to inhale.

These were the supplies I used. I learned from thefrugalgirls blog that when painting furniture a dark or black color, use a grey primer. But when painting furniture a white or light color, use a white primer. The brush I used was a synthetic brush with a short handle, which made it very easy to work with since the brush was light weight.

Now an important thing to know when priming is that you want to apply several layers. Don't expect an opaque finish like this right away. This was the color I got after priming for a couple of hours. Priming in layers also insures a more even paint application and allows for the paint to adhere to the surface, allowing for the piece of furniture to last longer without chipping.

This is what my desk looked like after I completely finished priming. I'm not sure if its totally necessary to prime until the color is as opaque as this, but I did it anyway just to be safe.

This is after about four coats of painting on the black. It looks like a mess here but with patience it will eventually get to the color you desire. Make even long strokes when painting your furniture. Also both the primer and paint dry really fast so by the time I coated my desk once, it was ready for the next layer.

After working on this all day from about one to six in the evening, it was finally done! and has found a new resting place in my room. :)

I ended up being very pleased with the outcome and I encourage everyone to try this out. Remember, with just a little primer and paint you can turn an old piece of furniture into a wonderful new functional unit for your space.