Not your ordinary Queen Annes……Someone asked me after I posted about painting those Queen Anne chairs black in the redesign I recently helped with, to give some instructions on how to do that, so I thought I would. I’ve been painting furniture black for about 6 years now, starting with my kitchen table and chairs way back then. Now, Pottery Barn is onto the trend (along with some other fun colors!) that I think was started by Ballard Designs in their very inspiring catalogs several years ago. I have always loved browsing through the latest Ballards catalog, even though I don’t buy all that much from them, the inspiration is wonderful.
So, in a very humbling moment, here are my table and chairs in their before state from my kitchen in Georgia. You can see I was caught up in the early 90’s decor of dark Hunter green and burgandy. That ivy wallpaper was really very stylish for the time….yes, it really was, LOL. You’ve probably been right there too. When I look back at these pics, I can breathe a sigh of relief that I have learned a lot about decorating after all.So, let’s get started with painting those chairs black…..
I purchased those chairs completely unfinished and stained and polyed them myself . They stayed that way until I decided to paint them black. So, the first step I did was to wipe over them with Liquid Sandpaper. I don’t know how it works, but it does. It deglosses the finish and gets it ready for paint. Just get some of this and I wouldn’t even recommend priming. I didn’t.I used Satin spray paint from Walmart, but you can use any good quality Satin spray paint. Lowes has a line from Valspar that is very good, as is Rustoleum and Krylon. You’ll need about 1 can per chair (if that) . Take them outside in a well-ventilated area with a drop cloth and after reading the Liquid Sandpaper directions and they are ready, begin to spray a light coat of black all over. Try not to let any of it run or if you see that, take a paper towel and blot the drips. Spray a coat, let dry and then go back and touch up as needed.
This is oil-based paint so the finish will dry very nice and smooth. After they were completely dry, I went back with a small hand-held electric sander and sanded off some of the paint in strategic wear spots, which you can see below.
Then I took some wood stain that I had around the house (something like Provencial or Walnut) and rubbed over the bare areas with the stain. This just gives it a nice depth to the distressed areas. You don’t have to distress, but I chose to on mine.
Worn spots that mimic real wear.
Base of the table was painted black also.
Worn spots that mimic real wear.
Base of the table was painted black also.
I went back later and added these appliques with creamy paint added for more of an aged look.
Just adds a little bit of personality to the chairs.
And there you have it…the whole kitchen table and chairs all painted. I’ve enjoyed them like this for 6 years now and can’t imagine changing them back to stained wood (or another color) anytime soon. I really think black painted furniture is a classic now. When I was working for Ethan Allen back in 2003 and ’04, they came out with several pieces of black painted furniture and the trend continues throughout the furniture industry. You can find it everywhere now. So why not take something old and give it an updated look yourself without buying new? Old solid wood furniture are good candidates for this paint treatment. It can totally change the look instantly of a dated piece.
This is our upstairs guestbath and as soon as we moved in, I painted it a dark brown/black called Turret Stairs by Ralph Lauren. Really gave it a nice new look too. This was just plain white laminate, so I did have to prime it well and then gave it 2 coats of paint. There is also now a primer just for laminate, which I’d highly recommend if you are painting a lot of the stuff. It’s pretty slick and can chip if not primed correctly. I used a roller on this piece, as a small foam roller gives a lot of control.
You’ll also probably remember the project (click for details on painting) I did last fall when I bought this cute nightstand for my guestroom and painted it black. I used a foam roller on this too.
It’s very hard to get decent pics of black painted furniture, by the way.
It now looks great with the black painted sleighbed that’s in this room, one that came from a yardsale and I painted black too.
Down in the den is another yardsale find, a solid wood vanity by Henredon that I decided was a good candidate for painting black. 
I sanded down the edges again.
And, it has some nice details on the leg which I highlighted with a little gold Rub N Buff.
And last, this is a chest I picked up for $5.00 at a yardsale, definitely not a nice piece, it’s mostly particle board, but I painted it black and we are using it in the master bedroom until I find just the right antique chest to go in here. I replaced the pulls which cost a lot more than the piece did. In fact, I spotted a very pretty mahogany chest on chest at an antiques store yesterday, which I think I’m gonna go put on layaway. It will fit perfect on this wall and give us so much more storage. Very good price too!One tip I have learned is that spray paint works great on smaller things, like chairs, but if you have a large surface, like a headboard or chest, it’s hard not to get overlap marks with the spray paint, so in those cases, it’s probably best to buy a quart of Satin paint and roll or use a paintbrush. Just something I’ve learned along the way!So, take a look around your house and see if you have some old dated pieces of wood furniture or something else that could use a facelift. It might be that all you need is a few cans of black Satin spray paint to give them a whole new look…for pennies! And if you’re a cottage girl, then you can also consider antique white. I know that’s a really popular look too. In fact, all of those Pottery Barn colors in the above pic are really fun!
Happy Painting!
I am so excited to be meeting another blog friend. Judy from Gracious Southern Living lives in Montgomery and is coming to Birmingham for the day and we are going out on a shopping/junking spree. I can’t wait to meet Judy, since we’ve been talking for a year now. She has a son who lives very near me, so I hope we can meet up more often. Fun, fun!
Lastly, go on over to Pampering Beki’s website for a jewelry giveaway! You have until June 11th to get your name in the hat….who doesn’t love new jewelry? Sign me up!
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Did you know that it is even harder to get a decent picture of a black cat than it is of black furniture? I’m going to talk to our landlord and see if I can paint our master bathroom (small) vanity black. I think it would look great.
Oh! I want to paint my bathroom vanity black! I need some hints, and now I know where to get them.
Thank you for such great instructions! I need to get some of that liquid sandpaper as I want to tackle our highly poly’d ladderback chairs in the dining area. I’ve put it off because I had convinced myself I’d be sanding for all eternity!
The black furniture looks great, btw! Just beautiful!
When I first set up housekeeping in the early 90’s – I, too, was a huge hunter green and burgandy fan…AND I put up Ivy wallpaper! 🙂
Great ideas and pictures. I’m going to start looking around for a project or two. Thanks for the inspiration!
I love the way the furniture turned out. Did you also spray paint the table?
Thank you so much for your step by step on painting furniture black. I did a search not thinking that I would find something so informative and inspiring. Wish me luck on our family room furniture! Have a great day!
Hi Rhonda, Love the painted furniture….. I would like to attempt to paint my formal dining room table and chairs with the ralph lauren paint, a little afraid of how the top of the table will handle the paint with hot plates etc… placed on top of it. any thoughts….I thought this would look beautiful with a couple of slip covered chairs …… very chic…. love the website
I am thinking of painting my kitchen table black, but have some concerns about the top of my table. It is used all the time to eat at, art projects and homework, and I don’t want to have to be constantly worrying about the paint chipping etc….
I have just painted my bedroom furniture black, inspired partly by one of your posts with black painted chairs. Now for my question…since the pieces are all different styles and wood colors I wanted to unify them. I would like to add some gold trim but don’t know what kind of paint to by. I painted them a satin finish and think I am going to spray paint all the original hardware gold also. I don’t necessarily want shiny new look, bit a little antiqued look… do you have any suggestions or links on your sight to help me? for now, I love the look of the painted finishes (one more coat to go…) There is a beautiful oak Larkin desk in great condition and the bed (an older Ethan Allan peice) which are not painted but the same color family so I don’t mind the warm color they add…which is why I think I want to do gold rather, otherwise I would just add all silver hardware… oh decisions decisions. I love your site, thanks.
Love this post. If you weren’t going to spray paint, would you suggest a black all surface enamel? I love the idea of rubbing the oil over the sanded areas. What kind of oil would you use for that? I have done poly over the black to seal the sanded areas but I wasn’t sure if it was necessary or the best route.What are your thoughts?
Peggy you can use any latex paint for painting furniture, as long as you prime first (most of the time that helps paint stick better). I sand back to wood and then add a woodstain over that for a distressed look. I hardly ever seal with poly after I paint, but it does make it more durable.
Where did you buy the liquid sandpaper?
Val, liquid sander can be found at Home Depot or Lowes. You might not find this brand, but they will have a liquid sander.
Please let me know the brand of the liquid sandpaper that you posted in this blog. I am going crazy trying to find that manufacturer 😉 Thank you!
Justine, that’s the brand up there that I used, called Liquid Sandpaper. But, if you can’t find that, there are plenty of other deglossers out there. Just pick one up and it will do the same thing. Thanks!
Good morning, i love this, and so easy too.
What kind of electrical sander do you use for the distressing? It’s perfect!
HI, Margaret, it’s just a hand held palm sander, there are a lot of brands to choose from. That worked pretty well for me.
A few years ago I redid a king size bed, end table and sofa table. I started with the liquid sandpaper, then sprayed, then instead of aging with a sander I tried wiping my piece with liquid sandpaper in areas of wear. It looked amazing! It gives a really nice worn look a sander can’t mimic. It actually looks like it has smoothly worn away. I finished off just like you did by wiping on a stain. If you’d like to see photos I’d love to show you. This is the only way I “sand” now and I love it. My work gets complemented & it sales! Next time you spray paint try sanding with liquid sander!
Thank you for inspiring me to paint my own vintage dining room chairs! 🙂