I often hear folks who paint furniture to sell lament painting things white.  “customers want everything painted white,” they say, “white furniture is what sells”, “we’re so sick and tired of painting things white!”.  The redundancy is squelching creativity for some folks.

Oh, if only there was a pop of color…..

So, can you imagine how Excited I was at the request to combine FUSION’s Cranberry and CUREiously Pink to create a custom RASPBERRY color for a shapely but dull buffet?

WOWZA!!!

The approximate mix was about 3 parts Cranberry to 1 part CUREiously Pink.  The pink was actually surprisingly robust!

Prep = Cleaning and Repairs

I’ve had this piece sitting in the shop for several months and never noticed this awful repair attempt until I took it apart to wash it.  Someone attempted to glue this piece of trim back on.  However, it looks like they tried doing it without clamping it as it was glued BELOW it’s target.  Luckily, they also used inappropriate glue for the job, so it was easy to dislodge with a razor blade, clean, and attach properly.

I have talked in previous posts about washing thoroughly with TSP Alternative before painting. FUSION’s TSP alternative degreases without requiring rinsing and is biodegradable.  Many other cleaners are toxic (to you and the environment) and need to be rinsed, so this is the product I recommend.  In addition to degreasing, older pieces may also need dewaxing with mineral spirits.  A thick, scratchable layer of paste furniture wax isn’t the only sign that there is still waxy residue; years and layers of Pledge-type “furniture polish” products tend to build up over time and leave a thin, silicone-like layer on furniture that acts as a resist to paint. Think about how often your grandmother or great-grandmother polished her furniture.

This piece was washed until the wash water ran clean.  And then, I put some paint on part of it just to see how resistant the remaining surface was.  As I suspected, there was waxy residue on it.  This “fisheye” look as the paint pulls back from the surface is an indication that your surface needs to be cleaned with mineral spirits.

Enter Mineral Spirits!

One look at my rag and you can see the additional grime that was trapped within layers of waxy residue.  Odorless mineral spirits dissolves the wax and releases the rest of the grunge.  NOW we’re ready to paint!!

Color!

I decided to paint a quick base coat of Cranberry as a transition color since I had only mixed up a single pint of the custom raspberry color to match the customer’s color swatch and didn’t want to run out if the coverage wasn’t solid.  Turns out, the coverage was pretty great!

After drying for a couple of days, it was time for the black glaze.  I love using FUSION’s Clear Glaze since it can be mixed with any color paint to get the exact glaze shade you want.  I just mixed a little bit of Coal Black in and was ready to apply!

Glazing with black tinted glaze deepens the paint color just a little and leaves nice definition in the crevice details. Here are two drawers, one with and one without glaze for comparison.  You simply apply, and then wipe back the glaze until you have the desired effect.  It stays wet for a long time so you can work with it more easily.

This is how the whole piece looks, freshly glazed.  We also cleaned and oiled the hardware with hemp oil to maintain and enhance the original aged patina.

A little more tweaking, a few internal repairs (door latches) and…..

Warm vs. cool lighting makes quite a difference for this color.

Either way, it POPS!!!

All of the products to complete a project like this are available at our Online Shop

If you are looking for CUREiously Pink, it’s coming back for a limited release!!! Our order will be in next week so feel free to order through our online store and it will be sent as soon as it come in!

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