Hi there and welcome to my very first instructable! I decided to write about something near and dear to my heart, furniture painting! I love doing furniture make-overs because I believe in second chances. Maybe your furniture piece is ready for another life, purpose, or color!

I'm going to break this down into the suggested step by step plan so you can update your own pieces

Supplies Needed:

Step 1: Prepping Your Furniture Piece

Before we can get to the painting, we have some prep work to do. First of all, remove all the hardware and put it somewhere safe. It doesn't matter what type of finish your piece has on it, you'll need to sand it down with a rough grit sandpaper. Be sure to get in all the nooks and crannies! You don't need to sand down to bare wood either, just rough it up a bit. As you can see from the before photo, this chest had a worn, dated, and "past it's prime" finish. A simple sanding has you ready to paint now!

Step 2: Priming Your Furniture

Unless I'm staining a part of the furniture piece, I give the piece a coat of primer. Let that dry thoroughly then sand lightly with a fine grit sandpaper. Again, remove the sanding dust with your tack cloth. Now you're ready to paint!

Step 3: Painting

Apply your first coat of paint and let it dry. Lightly sand with fine grit sandpaper. Apply a second coat and repeat the sanding process.

Step 4: Hardware

Now on to the hardware. If you're lucky enough to have all the original hardware, I suggest you paint it in oil rubbed bronze. Paint one side, let it dry, then flip it over and spray the other side. Do this several times until the hardware is covered well. Set these aside.

Step 5: Optional Distressing

There are many ways to distress a piece of furniture and there is no right or wrong way. Take your high grit sandpaper and wrap it around a scrap piece of wood. Now, you have one of the tools available for distressing. Start with the edges and go lightly at first. Keep stopping and taking a step back to see if you like what you're seeing. Try to distress on the areas that would have seen the most wear and tear, hence rubbing the paint off. **More on this in my next Instructable**

Step 6: Protective Layer

Now it's time to add your protective layer. I use polyacrylic and give it two coats, sometimes a third coat on the top where the most wear and tear will be. Very lightly sand with the fine grit sandpaper again. Voila!

Step 7: Finale!

There you have it my new friends! I hope you come away from this Instructable with the confidence you need to paint your own furniture piece! I suggest starting with something small. Just remember, have FUN with it!