Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Painting over antique Cherry dinningroom suite

I have never attempted to paint furniture. I have a antique cherry dinningroom suite that I would like to strip and paint. I'd like it too have the cracked look, if that makes any sense. The table and chairs are in pretty bad shape and when I inquired about refinishing it I was told cherry was too hard to redo. After some thought and some decorating shows I decided to pait the set and make it look cracked. Can anyone tell me the correct way to start this project? I have the table six chairs, chinet cab, and buffett. I'm going to use warm colors to match my dinning room. Thank you for your help.

God bless all
eirsims

First, whoever told you cherry was too hard to refinish either didn't want to do the job or wasn't competent. There are some tricks involved that are particular to cherry, but it's not "too hard".

Assuming the pieces are in good mechanical shape (no loose joinery, etc.) you're ready to start refinishing. You DON'T need to strip the pieces to bare wood. The current finish does need to be sanded to remove any existing cracks, chips, etc., as well as 'rough up' the surface.

A good paint store can lead you through the rest of the process - what type of 'crackle' finish, and how to apply it. Application methods vary from mfg. to mfg., but generally you apply a base color (this is what shows through the cracks), wait a while, then apply the top coat. The amount of time between coats determines how large the cracks will be.

Painting over Cherry furniture? :eek: :eek:

Mike:

My thoughts exactly :thumbdn:

another way to do the "crackle" finish, is to spray your
"dominate" colour first over all pieces.
then come back with the "clear crackle" finish over the base coat.
then mix up or have a glaze mixed up that you spray on and wipe off,
that fills the cracks with the colour you choose.
this way all you have to ever buy is "clear crackle finish".
mixing up the glaze is easy and far more available.