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How to Paint a Vintage Buffet

As a Lowe’s Creative Ideas blogger, each month I receive project challenges. One of the challenge themes for this month was furniture makeover! I had been trolling Craigslist for a vintage buffet for months and months to no avail. Finally this beauty popped up, and I pounced on it as quickly as my little fingers could hit “reply by email”! They were asking $120 which was more than I wanted to spend. I offered $80 and the offer was accepted. Woohoo! I asked Matt to stop at an ATM for me on his way home to get the necessary cash, and somehow he ended up with a fifty and two twenties. Of course upon purchasing no one had change for my twenty, so this $80 bargain ended up being a $90 bargain. Gah! Lesson learned. Always double check that you have exact change when picking up your Craigslist finds.

buffet table before

Before I share how I transformed this beauty, let me go ahead and show her off! If you’re anything like me, you get annoyed if you have to scroll, scroll, scroll to the end of a post to see the “after”. I’m thrilled with how it turned it out!

Gray painted buffet

Painting Furniture Step 1: Sand if necessary.

The most important part of achieving beautifully painted furniture comes before you even pick up a brush. Prep work is a pain in the tookus, but it is vital to ensuring your piece turns out. It might seem tempting to just skip steps and dive right into the fun part, but I’ve learned (several times) the hard way that skipping steps rarely pays off in the long run. Most people hate sanding, but really it’s not that big of a deal. If your piece has 100 years of grime and deep scratches, you will want to sand. I own three sanders and hands-down my favorite sander is the Dewalt 3-Amp Orbital Sander. To achieve a smooth finish, I use a progression of varying sandpaper grits from 60, 120, to 220. The lower the number on the sand paper, the coarser the grit. Since you are painting and not staining, it is not important to get down to the bare wood. Your goal here is to achieve a smooth surface.

Sand furniture

Painting Furniture Step 2: Clean with TSP.

After my piece was sanded to my liking, I cleaned it with TSP which deglosses, degreases, and cleans the furniture. Follow the directions and safety precautions on the bottle. It’s important to wear gloves, and I like to wear a respirator whenever working with chemicals. You will be amazed at how much gunk comes off your furniture! I just use paper towels so that clean-up is easy.

TSP to clean furniture before painting

This is what the piece looked like after sanding and cleaning. Oh, and one more quick painting tip for you! PAINTER’S PYRAMIDS are awesome.

vintage buffet

I shared this tip on Instagram a few days ago and was surprised by how many people had never heard of these little guys. You slip them under the corners of your furniture, doors, boards, cabinets, etc. to make painting edges easier. I’ve used them for years and find them to be such a time saver. You can find painter’s triangles/pyramids in the paint section of Lowes, typically by the brushes. If you’re having trouble finding them, just ask someone at the paint counter and they will help you.

Painter's pyramids

Painting Furniture Step 3: Apply your paint.

Choosing the right paint for your project is a matter of personal preference. For this piece, I chose Valspar Duramax in Valspar Montpelier Ashlar Gray. I also plan to use this paint on some outdoor furniture and thought it would be the best choice for my projects. (Note: It is not recommended to use an exterior paint indoors due to the mildewcides/fungicides contained in exterior paints. I haven’t had any trouble with VOC’s or off-gassing of this piece and the paint was very thick with excellent coverage.) When painting furniture, I typically like working with chalky-finish paints and milk paints, and I also love the durability provided by an oil-based or enamel-based paint. Latex paints are plasticky, and I just find them trickier to work with on wood furniture. All that being said, this paint had amazingly thick coverage and gave me a beautiful finish.

Valspar Montpelier Ashlar Gray

I like to use a small foam roller for the flat surfaces on furniture and a 2 inch Purdy brush for the rest. When painting, try not to roll or brush over an area too much. It can be tempting to want to achieve max coverage with your first coat but over-rolling can pull up the paint and create a mess. If this happens, don’t panic. You can wait for it to dry, sand it smooth, and repaint. Thin coats of paint with proper dry time in between coats will always turn out better than one thick coat. I used two coats of paint and waited about 12 hours between each coat. I’ve had too many bad experiences with paint to know that patience is key!

Painting vintage buffet

Painting Furniture Step 4 (Optional): Glaze your furniture.

Glaze is a thin translucent layer of color that you paint over the top of your painted surface. You can make your own glaze or buy pre-made glazes. I hadn’t initially planned on glazing this piece, but after staring at it for a day it just seemed to lack depth and character. I had some Rustoleum glaze left over from a previous project so decided to use it on my buffet. To apply glaze, I like to use a small foam brush and just apply it in all of the nooks and crannies of the piece. You then use a rag or paper towel to wipe off the excess glaze. The glaze will stay in the cracks of your piece, bringing them to life. You can see the difference in the picture below between the glazed leg and the un-glazed leg. decorative glaze for furniture

Painting Furniture Step 5: Renew your vintage hardware.

This is a great tip for you! To renew your brass or copper vintage hardware soak them in fresh lemon juice for an hour or so. Then use salt as a scrub and the actual lemon as your “scrub brush”. The results are amazing. You can see the difference between the “cleaned with lemon and salt” pull on the bottom and the dirty pull on top.

Clean vintage hardware with salt and lemon juice

I love their renewed sheen!

Gray painted buffet

And here is one more reminder of where we started and where we ended up…

Painted vintage buffet

This piece will end up being used as an entertainment unit in our living room, but for now it is looking glamorous on the brick wall.

Gray painted buffet

Pin this project for later.

How to paint a vintage buffetFor even more DIY ideas, be sure to visit Lowes Cre­ative Ideas and fol­low along with Lowe’s on Pin­ter­est or on Insta­gram! You can sign up to receive their free Cre­ative Ideas Mag­azine. There’s also a mag­a­zine app which includes additional features such as a few projects from the Lowes Creative Ideas bloggers.

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Disclosure: I am a Lowes Creative blogger and this post is sponsored by Lowes. All ideas, thoughts, and projects are my own.

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Comments

  2. Heidi Jacobsen says

    I am getting ready to paint a buffet as well using General Finishes Milk Paint. It has a marvelous finish but I was wondering if you painted just the faces of the doors and drawers or also the interior edges. I’m wondering about the drawers not fitting the same way or sticking when I put it back together.

  3. Beth says

    I saw one of your refillable lamps with a shade that looks like French black print on it. Just would love one but not sure what it is called to search it out.
    Just recently found you. Love everything you do.

  4. kristina malone says

    I also have this piece. I’m thinking of moving it from the living room to the family room to use as a t.v. stand. Debating about doing it maroon or off white. Your instructions helped a lot, especially the part about restoring the hardware, I’ve never heard of that before.

  11. Christine says

    Hi there! Found you via Pinterest.
    What caught my eye is that I have the very same credenza upside down in my MBR (aka “workroom”) ready to be cleaned and painted. This poor baby had a back leg broken off, which I’m attempting to repair. But, right down to the legs’ fluting and hardware, it’s the same.
    Who made these? Did every home in the world have one at one point? In some fashion or another, they’re everywhere, aren’t they? All, without losing their charm!
    Great job on the paint. Looks rejuvenated!

  12. Karen Ann says

    It turned out so lovely. The glaze really makes a difference. I’ve been reading a LOT of “how to paint furniture” posts from various blogs. Yours is very clear and uncluttered, which is just what I need. So thanks!!! My soon-to-be painted bookcases and I thank you.

  13. Miranda says

    I keep reading how-tos and have bookmarked your blog! Love that bit about salt and lemons! That brass looks awesome!!! And the glaze made a huge difference. I def wouldn’t have known about that. Your buffet turned out beautiful.

  14. Kesha says

    I have a very similar buffet that I bought two years ago on Craigslist that’s sitting in our dining room. I had every intention when I bought it to paint it a gray color like yours, but life (having a baby) has gotten in the way. But now my husband doesn’t think I should paint it and that I might “ruin” it. I think though I’m still leaning towards painting it since that’s my original vision and I always love looking at painted furniture.

  16. JO says

    Wow, divine! I have a very similar buffet (and large dining room table with 8 chairs) that I would like to make over like this. They are veneered mahogany and very shiny. How should I prep them for painting? I’m scared of going straight through the veneer when sanding. I’m thinking of using home made chalk paint – would this require sanding and/or a primer? I really don’t want to mess up such a big project! Thanks so much

  17. Mary Thompson says

    I have almost the same exact buffet except it has a curve to the front drawers. My question is, how did you sand the legs or did you? Mine has the same grooves and a lot of detail that will make sanding difficult. Should I just skip that part of the sanding?

    • Beth says

      Great question! When you are just painting (and not restaining a piece) the purpose of sanding is to degloss the surface (not usually a major issue with very old pieces) and to buff out any minor scratches. The TSP will also help to degloss. I really only sanded the top (heavily) and then I sanded the drawer fronts. The decorative detail on the bottom of the buffet had some chips and blemishes, so I did try to smooth those out carefully with the orbital sander. If you want to just rough up a glossy surface you can use a sanding pad or sheet of sand paper. Some will tell you that sanding is totally unnecessary if you are using a good adhesion primer. But I’ve painted enough pieces that have gone wrong to just suck it up and not skip this step. A clean, dust free surface will give your paint something to grip to and will yield the long-term result you want.

  18. Victoria says

    I own this exact same buffet. Mine has a broken leg, poor thing. I’ve been wanting to paint it for so long but haven’t had the courage to do it! I LOVE yours. I also have the smaller what I call server and the china cabinet that matches. You have now given me the courage to paint them all!

    • Beth says

      Yay for the courage to paint! I’d love to see them when you’re finished so shoot me a picture if you think of it.

  19. David says

    That is a great piece of furniture (and a steal even if you paid $10 more than you expected) and your makeover is beautiful – great instructions too.

  22. Maryann says

    Oh my goodness, I’m with everyone else. This is so beautiful. What a fantastic job you did. Gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.

  24. Linda says

    I was so afraid that the outcome was going to be that horrible turquoise color everyone seems to be using but this is gorgeous. I have to agree with Shannon, the mirror and wall help a lot. Great job.

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