Have you just picked up a beautiful piece of wooden furniture in a flea market or shop? Do you own a piece of wooden furniture that needs to be personalised? Relooking a wooden piece of furniture with new colours can bring your furniture back to life, and can brighten up an entire room. Whether you choose to personalise and customise your furniture with paint or stains, there are a few essential steps to follow.
To give a wooden piece of furniture a new look, there are several choices available to you. Either you decide to apply a stain to colour the wood and then apply a protective varnish, or you can apply a coloured protective varnish directly. Whether you choose one or the other, it is imperative that you clean and expose the wood beforehand.
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STEP 1: PREPARE THE WOOD BEFORE CUSTOMISING IT
Before you start staining your furniture, it is important to know if your wood has already received protection. By this we mean whether the wood has been coated with a varnish or any other protective product.
If so, the wood must then be stripped bare using a suitable stripper or sandpaper and finally dusted thoroughly.
If not, just make sure the wood is clean and dust-free.
STEP 2 : OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED: THE APPLICATION OF AN UNDERCOAT OR PRIMER
We recommend applying a primer before applying any protective product or other wood stain. Primers (or hard bases) are products that penetrate deeply into the wood and harden the wood fibres and enhance the protective effect of the varnish against stains and stagnant water. The application of an undercoat homogenises the support to give a more aesthetic finish.
In practice, on tannic woods, apply the Anti-Tanins Primer PAT400, on other types of wood, the application of the Pore Filler Primer BP400 is more recommended.
STEP 3: NOW LET'S GO AND CUSTOMIZE THE WOOD. BUT HOW DO WE DO IT?
As a preamble, if you opt for a paint, you make the choice to have a covering and opaque finish, i.e. the wood grain will no longer be visible. If you opt for a wood stain or a coloured wood varnish, the finish will be stained and transparent, allowing you to preserve the natural appearance of the wood while colouring it. We will only deal here with wood stain and coloured varnish.
Two choices are available to you.
The first is the application of a wood stain to colour the furniture, followed by the application of a transparent protective varnish to fix the colour and preserve it over time.
The second choice is the direct application of a varnish that colours the wood instantly and protects it. An all-in-one product in a nutshell.
Whichever option you choose, we will point you in the right direction.
1st case : APPLICATION OF A WOOD STAIN FOLLOWED BY A 2-STEP PROTECTION.
1ST STEP: APPLICATION OF A WOOD TINT
Our customers often choose the wood tint because it allows the best possible dosage of the final shade to be achieved. Thus, if a precise shade intensity is required, the shade can be applied in several passes without ending up with an unsavoury surface finish. Regardless of the number of passes, the product is not film-forming.
The wood tint is applied in one to three coats depending on the desired colour intensity. Under normal circumstances, we recommend applying 2 coats on wooden furniture. The product is very penetrating and must be pulled well to obtain a homogeneous finish.
Anything is possible in terms of decoration and type of support. For the creation of graphic designs, simply use masking tape and a roll or rabbit's foot and let your imagination run wild.
We advise you to use the Parquet & Furniture Tint TPM900, grey or black are trendy but you can choose more punchy colours such as bright green, or on the contrary pastel shades for more softness such as pastel pink.
2ND STEP: FINISHING: APPLICATION OF A COLOURLESS TRANSPARENT PROTECTIVE PRODUCT
Whether you have chosen a solid colour or patterns, you will need to apply a transparent protective product, known as a film-forming agent. By creating a protective film on top of the stained wood, this fixes and protects the stain, preventing it from fading over time or rubbing off. The Furniture Varnish VM500 is a product specially designed for the protection of wooden furniture, totally transparent and colourless, it will enhance the wood and the stain applied.
2nd CASE : APPLICATION OF A PRODUCT THAT BOTH COLOURS AND PROTECTS THE WOOD.
There are products to protect and colour the wood at the same time, other than paints. These products are called transparent stain finishes. This is the case of Colour Wood Varnish VBC500, which is available in a multitude of decorative and transparent shades while providing effective water and stain protection. The wood is coloured, protected and its beautiful natural appearance remains.
Ideal for staining and protecting a wooden box, coffee table or storage shelves. Here too, shades in classic wood tones, pastels or brighter, "flashy" shades will bring cheerfulness and "pep" to your interior furnishings. You can use stencils to add motifs or decoration. The trend is towards "sweet tropical": pineapples, pink flamingos, cacti and palm trees are de rigueur, long live the tropics...
Good to know when using a tinted product: for each additional coat, the intensity of the colour increases.
STEP 4: SHOULD THE WOOD BE MAINTAINED OVER TIME AFTER IT HAS BEEN CUSTOMISED?
Once the wood has been coloured and protected, it still needs to be maintained. The type and frequency of maintenance depends on how the furniture is used and whether or not it is subject to heavy use. For daily maintenance, a damp sponge or woollen cloth should be sufficient.
If cleaning is necessary to remove stains, for example, the ideal solution is to use a slightly aggressive black knowledge diluted in a little water. Like for example the Liquid Black Soap SN800.
To revive the colour, opt for an extra layer of tinted finish such as Colour Wood Varnish VBC500 ,after a light sanding of the surface.
PRODUCTS TO CUSTOMISE OR GIVE A NEW LOOK TO YOUR WOODEN FURNITURE
