My Buffet

I have a couple of touch-ups to do, but other than that – my buffet is done! Now I just need to buy some white candles. :)

Before:

After:

Painting furniture is actually really easy. I have been painting furniture since I was a kid (Yes, seriously. I could never decide what color or pattern my dresser should be – so paint became my friend at an early age).

The Process
My best tip is to find furniture that is structurally in good condition, and the rest can be altered easily. I do a light sanding on whatever I'm painting (just rough it up), and then a thorough sanding to the top of the piece (that's the area that usually receives the most wear). Once all the sand dust is off your furniture – paint away.

I'm a no primer and no oil-based paint kind of girl myself. Oil-based paint definitely has it place, especially when painting tile, but other than that I would prefer something less smelly. Plus, latex is just so much easier to work with. Primer also does have it's place. I would recommend using primer if you are going from black to white (or any other extreme changes), because it will save you time in the end.

Paint anywhere you have to use a small brush first, then do whatever rolling is needed. Doing it the other way, can start altering your rolling pattern and look sloppy.

Paint
For the buffet, I used Glidden's Black Onyx. This is the first time I've used Glidden, and I thought it covered wonderfully. My best tip for picking paint is to keep it all the same. No matter how many coats you do, at some point paint will chip – and you want to know exactly what you used, so you can just do touch ups, and not an entire new coat. This also makes it easier, when you find additional things to paint. That way there's no confusion later on. Everything that is black is just one color.

Finish
There really isn't a wrong answer for what type of finish to use. I personally perfer satin, because that's the shine most store-bought furniture has.