Spray Paint Your Furniture from Raw

First painting project: Painting coffee table with solid color paint.

Now, don't get mad at me for painting solid color to cover up all the wood grain. For the naturalist, you will get what you want on my next project. But for now, these two pieces of coffee table will be covered in solid color paint. Oh yes, I will NOT be covering the basics and detailed steps of how to apply paint and stuff like that, that can easily be searched on google.

Without further ado, I will share my first project. So, a couple of months ago, I had a chance to procure a set of irresistible coffee table made of teak wood from a local flea market in central Java. I managed to take a picture of it once I took it back to my workshop.

Honestly speaking, I hatedevery bit of the table top carvings and grooves but with a little touch, the top can be made interesting (more on this later).

STEP 1 (The Body):

First, I cover the whole piece with two components white epoxy primer. This is a very important step and must not be skipped at all cost. Teak wood contains oil/sap that will come out in months or years time. So, priming teak with epoxy primer combined with the hardener is essential to block the sap from coming out.

Then, I painted the body of the table with 2k paint. Now, 2k paint is also called two pack paint or two components paint or sometimes also called two components polyurethane paint. The benefit of 2k paint over single component paint is on the strength (adhesiveness) of the paint which means 2k paint is more resistance to scratch and peel. In terms of look, 2k paint gives out more shiny surface and longer color retention over single component paint.

The color choice is yours, but here I use Super White Gloss.

If you are looking for an antique or distressed look, then single component paint is good. But on this project, I want to make a solid color super glossy look (almost looking like plastic).

Notice that I don't bother to mention the brand name of the paint I use as I believe that it might not be available in every country.

STEP 2 (The Table Top):

As I mentioned above that I hated every bit of the carvings on the table top, I need to cover it up. I started to look around for interesting veneer to be used on the table top. For those who don't know, veneer wood is a sheet of paper made from cutting the tree with extremely high precision. Veneer wood is usually less than 1mm thick. You can choose any veneer you like, the choice is yours, from burl wood veneer to teak wood veneer to synthetic veneer. For this project, I use the maple burl veneer which was pressed and glued to the table top (for pressing, you need professionals to do it for you, usually its the same company that sells the veneers).

Now, after waiting for several days for the pressing, you have a raw veneered top with painted body. What you need to do now is to use wood stain on the table top to your liking. Here I use cocoa brown for the wood stain. After the wood stain, comes the sanding sealer step. Then comes the top coating step, which is also our final step.

For this project, I use non yellowing 2k clear coat high gloss. For top and final coat process, spray all over it at least 2 times for a smoother glossier finish.

This is what the end result look like.