Don’t make these mistakes when prepping your piece! You’ll thank us later.
Starting With a Dirty Piece
Always always always clean your piece before you start any other work. This means vacuuming it out (even underneath), degreasing and cleaning inside and out. You don’t want to push dirt and grease into your wood when you sand it. This will prevent adhesion and create an undesirable finish. You also don’t want any residue in your paint. There’s nothing worse than dust or other muck messing up all your hard work.
Bonus Tip: A lightweight, cordless vacuum makes this soooo much easier.
Rushing to Make Repairs
I know, I know taking the time to make all the repairs is tedious especially when you’re excited to get right to painting. But you’ll thank yourself when you’re done. You don’t want to have any regrets when you see how bad something looks and how obvious it is when you’re done painting. Fix that wobbly leg or janky drawer and take the time to fill in all the scratches and gouges.
Bonus Tip: Priming with a white primer before filling in scratches and dents will make them stand out so you don’t have to go back and do a second round filling them after you paint.
Thinking You Don’t Need to Scuff Sand
Yes, you really have to scuff sand everything… even if the paint says that it’s no prep. It helps smooth out imperfections as well as give paint something to grip on to. It really doesn’t take that long and makes a huge impact on your paint adhesion.
Bonus Tip: Sanding Sponges are great to get into those hard to reach places.
Skipping Primer
Primer sets your paint up for success. It blocks out anything that’s underneath so that your paint color can dry down to its true color. It also prevents any old stain from bleeding through and ruining the color of your piece. There’s nothing more disparaging than when you think you’re done with your flip and then come back a few hours later and there’s brown blotches all over your piece. It’s happened to me more times than I’d like to admit and yes, I cry almost every time.
Bonus Tip: Sand in-between coats of primer and paint for an extra smooth finish.