HELP NEEDED - painting an old family rocking chair

carefullycautious

You cant paint it noooooooo. A wax to show through the wood grain yes.

What a lovely keepsake

maro11

It looks lovely as it is. Get some funky fabric and make the cushions and it will look fab.

Seakay

If you really want to make it whiter then you could 'lime' it and then wax or varnish - I would use a water based matt varnish
http://www.ehow.com/how_2079048_lime-finish-wood.html

annie-c

I have sanded and painted an oak rocking chair. I 'rough-sanded' it, as I do with all my makeovers. I make sure the glaze is well and truly scuffed all over in order to give the base coat a key to grip to, but I do not totally remove the glaze. I get what everyone is saying about the pleasure of having natural wood in the house, but really, it would be very very hard work to remove all of the glaze on that chair.

For the flat parts, wrap sand paper round a sanding block (usu made of cork and about £2 in Asda or a DIY shop). Where possible a mouse sander is a real time saver but you might not be able to do curved surfaces very well, the cork blocks usually have a bit more 'give'.

For the spindles, take about 1/4 of a sheet of sandpaper, cut lengthways, and fold it over two or three times until you have a long strip about 1" wide, with rough surface on both sides. Then thread it round the spindle and hold either end and sand using a see-sawing motion. (Does that make sense?).

To get a fabulous finish, I would recommend using good quality 2-in-one primer and undercoat, and then at least two coats of a good quality eggshell paint. Use good brushes (you really don't want to be picking stray brush hairs off those spindles!) and an almost dry brush to make sure you get no drips. The first coat is always really hard work but the last coat will be like spreading soft butter - it really does get easier as you go on.

Between each coat use a very very fine grade sandpaper to take off any slight bumps (Purple coloured sandpaper from 3M is good for this job). After each sanding, wipe over with a damp cloth to remove any dust.

Leave plenty of drying time between coats.

And enjoy! I love furniture makeovers!

jexygirl

Its beautiful, light or clear varnish it pleaaaassee!!!
Other than that the suggestion of lime wax to lighten it in a neutral way.
Jex

HOWMUCH

I would just use Danish Teak oil on it, painting it would be such a shame.