Have you ever had a hobby or creative outlet that got a little out of hand, or that you couldn't stop thinking about?! For me, furniture painting became a creative outlet, and soon turned into a bit of an obsession that later turned into a job. Over the past several years, I have painted hundreds of pieces of furniture. Looking back, it's hard to imagine that I have painted so many pieces, or how this passion even began.
I painted my first piece of furniture over a decade ago when my husband's parents brought a simple corner hutch to our dining room. My husband and I both imagined that it would look nice painted in black to match our dining chairs (that had not been painted by me). My in-laws helped me paint the hutch, and I think I would say that I enjoyed the process. I still have the hutch in our dining room today, and it's the perfect display cabinet for my purple glass collection. It's not perfectly painted, but I love the fact that I can remember it as being my first painted piece of furniture.
When my husband and I moved our family to New Hampshire we made the decision that I would continue to stay home with our two children. We bought a house and started to make it feel like home. My father-in-law loves to hunt for great (or free) deals, and he found numerous pieces of furniture that we could use in our home. However, the furniture typically needed repairs, or just didn't suit my style. So, I began to paint more pieces in colors that I preferred. It was a way for me to inexpensively furnish our home while I stayed home with our young children. It also became a fun creative outlet for me, and a way for me to feel connected to the design world.
I didn't start painting furniture with the intention of ever selling painted furniture. I just found that I loved to refinish furniture. It brought me joy to rescue a piece that had been destined for the landfill. These were pieces that had once been beautiful and meticulously crafted but had been neglected and uncared for often for many years.
I found myself sneaking into my basement workshop any free moment I had to work on another piece. I started collecting furniture and experimented with different paint products and colors. Eventually, I began to realize that I couldn't keep all of the pieces I painted! I had painted over 50 pieces for our house before I decided that it might be fun to try selling painted furniture.
I was nervous to start selling because it meant that I was putting myself and my art out there to the world. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and wanted to make sure that my work was perfect if it would be sold to someone else.
I still remember the first piece I ever painted with the intention of wanting to try to sell it. The piece was an adorable gateleg table. It had so much charm and character. I created a unique weathered look for the top. To be honest, I don’t recall the exact process I used, but I think I just played with a mix of watered down white paint to create a whitewash. I do remember that I chose one of my favorite blue green paint colors from Benjamin Moore, Stratton Blue, for the legs. I’m pretty sure that I simply used a sample pot of Behr paint from the Home Depot mixed in the Stratton Blue color.
I had fun creating, and the excitement built when I completed the table, and decided to take photos of it. It was my birthday in December of 2017, and a good friend was visiting me. She helped me carry the table from my basement into our unheated three-season porch where the lighting was great, but the temperature was cold. I snapped several pictures with my phone of the table by itself. No staging, nothing fancy. Just simply a painted table.
I listed the table for sale on Facebook Marketplace. It didn't sell immediately, but I soon met a sweet woman who also painted furniture. She owned a boutique shop where she sold furniture and other home decor. She loved my table, and asked if I would like to sell it in her store.
The table eventually was purchased at the store, but not before I had other people reach out to me to ask if I would paint furniture for them. I jumped right into the world of custom furniture painting. The rest, they say - is history!
