How do I Paint Wood? | Decorating Centre Online

How do I paint wood?

When you are painting wood, making it smooth and perfectly painted is sometimes quite a difficult task to complete- even for professionals!

However, there are so many reasons why you would want to paint the wood in- or even outside- your home.

Whether they are railings, or skirting, furniture or even a garden shed, painting wood is not as hard as you think it is with the help of this handy little guide on how to paint wood below!

Follow this step-by-step guide below and you will be able to have your perfectly painted woodwork in no time!

What you will need:

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Step 1: Preparing the Room

No matter which wooden surface you are painting, you must firstly make sure that the room is prepared for a painting job.

This means that you must ensure that any furniture is moved out of the way in order to avoid any paint splats or anything else from ruining your furniture.

For pieces which are unable to be moved from your home, it is much easier to cover them with either a cloth or a polythene dust sheet in order to keep your larger pieces of furniture untarnished by any accidental paint, sanding, or other spills during the woodwork painting process.

This can also even include the flooring too. Perhaps you are painting wood trim, or shelving which are unable to be moved from their position, covering the flooring may be a good idea if there is any opportunity for paint splats or anything else.

To keep your dust sheets in place, you may be able to tape them in place with the decorators masking tape in order to reduce any paint peels or anything else as this type of masking tape is much more delicate than its all-purpose counterparts.

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Step 2: Cleaning the Wooden Work Surface

If your wooden surface hasn’t been cleaned in a long time, it is highly recommended that you clean it before you decide to go ahead and paint the surface.

This is because dust, or other kinds of dirt, can get into the paint and create textures underneath which can leave the final finish of the paint bobbles and not as smooth as it could have been if the surface was cleaned prior to the process.

You can either clean the surface with normal warm water and everyday detergent, however you can also clean it with sugar soap if the surface has any grease or anything else on top of it.

Sugar soap is typically used on surfaces which are affected by a greasy, or even a tarry, deposit which cannot be easily removed.

This means that sugar soap can be used to clean paintwork, especially in preparation for repainting too!

All you will need to use to clean is a new rag and either your warm water, or your sugar soap solution.

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Step 3: Sand down the Wooden Surface

This is one of the most crucial steps in painting your wooden surface. If you use a fine grit sandpaper, this step can create a lovely smooth surface which you will be able to create your wonderfully smooth painted surface from (after following the rest of the steps!).

When you are sanding down your wooden surface, it is good to note that you are not trying to strip the wood of all its previous surface coverings or paint coats, you are simply attempting to create a smooth surface to paint on.

However, what you are also doing during this process is providing some ‘tooth’- also known as light scratches or friction- to the surface of your wood in order to increase the likelihood of your paint from adhering to your wooden surface.

It is advised that you wear some form of respiratory protection when carrying out this step as the dust from the sanding can be potentially harmful to your lungs- however, this is usually after quite a long period of exposure.

This means that wearing either a simple dust mask or even a respirator whilst you are painting is a great health benefit.

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Step 4: Clean off any Dust created from the Sanding Process

It is essential that, after you have sanded your wood down, that you clean it all completely off before painting or priming it.

This can be started by vacuuming off any dust or excess wood from the surface in order to make sure that you are painting onto a clean and smooth surface.

However, it is essential that you use one of the vacuums with a brush attachment so that you are not blowing the minuscule fragments of wood sanding back onto your wooden surface.

After that, you can use a clean cloth, or a cotton rag, dipped in warm water to wash down the rest of the woodwork.

Here's a great video on how to prepare bare wood for painting:

PRO TIP: Make sure that the rag has been thoroughly squeezed out so that you are not ‘wetting’ the woodwork, rather, just removing and hard to move dust from the woodwork.

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Step 5: Prime the Woodwork with the Appropriate Primer

The best way to ensure that your painted woodwork lasts a long time without chipping, peeling or coming away from the surface is by priming it beforehand.

Depending on the surface which you are intending to paint, depends on the primer you should use. Many times, this primer is one of three: Zinsser’s B-I-N, Zinsser’s Bull’s Eye 1-2-3 or Zinsser’s Cover Stain.

If you are unsure of which primer you should use for your chosen surface, check out our Other Blog Post named ‘Primers: What are they and Why should I use them?’, or you can just DM us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even call us or email us!

We will always help you out with a whole host of different problems to the best of our ability!

When you have chosen your correct primer, you must ensure that the primer is mixed well and applied with either a paint brush or a roller depending on the surface which you are priming.

Sometimes, it can be easier to cut in with a paint brush first and then use a roller afterwards in order to ensure that you prime all the areas of the wood which you need to.

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PRO TIP: If your primer is looking transparent after it has completely dried, you can re-coat your primer with a second coat in order to ensure that you have a solid base coat to paint on top of. Follow the drying instructions on the tin of primer which you have purchased in order to make sure that your primer works effectively.

The primer should have a chalky appearance after it has dried- either with the first coat or the second coat- however, this texture will be completely smoothed over by the top coat of paint which you choose, depending in the finish which you have chosen.

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Step 6: Sand your Primer to make it Smooth

The reason why primer is so effective in what it does is that it has an uneven texture which allows your final paint finish to effectively adhere to the surface.

However, this uneven texture can sometimes show underneath the final finish of paint which can compromise how smooth it looks when it has completely dried.

This means that sanding down your primer is an essential component in ensuring that your paint finish looks the best it can be.

It is essential that you use a fins grit sandpaper for this step as a rougher texture will not smoothen down the surface to the point that it should be. As a result, the fine grit sandpaper will prevent the primer from gouging.

Again, remove the dust with a quick brush with the vacuum and wipe it with a cloth as detailed above in Step 4.

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Step 7: Finally Painting the Wood!

This is the part you have all been waiting to do (but trust me, the above steps will really help your finished piece to look beautiful!).

If you are painting wooden furniture, or other wooden surfaces with an uneven finish to them, it is always best to use a paintbrush to apply the paint as the roller will be unable to fill all the gaps in the uneven surface.

You must ensure that you do not overfill the paint brush with paint, therefore dipping the paintbrush bristles approximately ¼ inch into the paint each time you dip them in order to reduce any accidental spillages.

Drag the bristles of the paintbrush in short strokes all over the surface which you are painting in a random way in order to smoothen out the surface as much as you can. However, if there is a specific wood grain to your wooden surface, make sure that they run parallel to the wood grain.

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However, for wood which have large, flat surfaces to them, it is best to use a roller in order to create a perfectly smooth finish.

The best way to achieve this is by cutting in with your paintbrush and then rollering the rest of the surface.

The best roller for this job will be a high-density foam roller which will help completely cover the surface which you are painting effectively and efficiently too.

If you are planning on painting your wooden surface with the roller, insert the paint tray liner in the paint tray, then pour about 1/3 of paint in the tray in order to reduce overflowing once more.

Here's a quick video on how to paint your surface without any brush marks!

Then, you must gently dab the roller into the paint. Roll the paint up and down the slope of the tray a few times to distribute the paint on the roller pad evenly.

Make sure that when you are rollering your paint onto your wood surface, you use a light pressure in order to ensure that the paint does not drip.

However, with some higher density rollers, you may have to apply a little bit more pressure as these foam roller covers tend to trap paint in the roller pad, so you may have to gently increase pressure to release the paint.

For both of these techniques, you must always ensure that you keep a wet edge at all times in order to reduce the amount of ‘lap marks’ which may occur during this process.

Make sure that the paint is fully dry before adding a second coat in order to reduce the chance of the paint tearing.

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Step 8: Sand the Paint Finish

Although this step is usually one which many people tend to skip, if you opt for completely this step, you will achieve a smoother and better-looking paint finish.

If you sand down your previous coat of paint, you can bring down any lumps and bumps which may have accidentally occurred during your painting process.

These inconsistencies are merely a result of your paint being a little thick, or any unnoticed sanding debris leftover.

Again, just like in Step 6 detailed above, you must ensure that your use a fine grit sandpaper in order to create a smoother surface, not one which introduces even more inconsistencies to your final paint finish.

This sanding process can either be done by hand- by wrapping a piece of sandpaper around a solid block and securing it in place- or it can be used mechanically using an orbital sander.

If you decide to use the sander, ensure that you run it very lightly across the surface of your paint in order to reduce the number of flakes and/or other debris ruining the smoothness of its surface.

A good way of gauging this is by not applying more pressure than the actual weight of the orbital sander itself.

Again, just like detailed above, clean off any sanding residue from the surface of your painted wood.

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Step 9: Final Finish!

Finally, paint the last coat of your paint onto the surface and leave to dry for the appropriate time.

Finished!

Check out the Video below for some more tips on how to paint cabinets!

If you have any more questions or issues with hanging your wallpaper, just DM us on either Twitter, Instagram or Facebook for some individual consultation advice.

OR Check out our OTHER Blog Posts for more information as well as handy Tips & Tricks!

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How do I Paint Wood? | Decorating Centre Online

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