I've made a blanker chest with floorboards from Leroy Merlin. Now I come to paint, its all a bit confusing now. In the olden days when a good sniff of paint was as good as a stiff whisky I'd buy knotting compound, wood primer and a suitable gloss to cover (sometimes an undercoat too).
Now I can buy primer/undercoat for wood, stain resistant shellac primer undercoat and all costing more than the plain gloss I will cover it with.
Whats my best budget way of doing it?
Well well, lac bugs eh? One lives and learns. Not sure at all about gloss but in my experience if its gonna be painted it has to be done properly, one coat products don't last. So its primer/undercoat then overcoat (probably not gloss) but my interior designer has ideas
Interesting. I just build the box, my personal interior designer (Mrs) has the ideas thereafter, I'll pass these on many thanks
A couple of Ebay links that might help you decide how to 'finish' it...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Barrel-Top-Pine-blanket-chest-coffer-/141893019627
Patrick, shellac prices have rocketed over the last few years due to a world wide shortage of the lac bugs, hence expensive. Now the weather in Asia has improved the lac bugs are back doing their thing so prices should fall again (yeah right) Gloss finish, are you sure?
Hi Patrick,
Unless you are going for the shabby chic look, I wouldn't paint it....
It very much depends on where it is going to go...do you want it to blend in with existing furniture ? ..or be a statement piece in its own right.
If the wood has nice 'figuring', then liming wax would enhance that, but may not look right if you have alot of mahogany furniture around it.
Waxing doesn't chip and if you have a bit of art & design flair, you could think about stencilling it (to fit in with say an oriental theme or some such), prior to waxing it. Depending on the wood that you've used you may or may not need to use a bit of Stiptic (to stop the knots from bleeding)......
Nicely done, this could become a bit of an heirloom......you could add considerable value, when ever you feel like selling it...
Of course there is always the 'decoupage' option.....suitably French...
Do you need to paint it Patrick?, maybe you could just use a nice antique wax on it. Another idea would be to use a chalk paint,it covers anything and gives a lovely finish.
Do you have a branch of Noz locally? They do brand name paints at give away prices occasionally.