160th Power of Paint Party… Painting on the Cheap

Welcome Paint Lovers to this week’s Power of Paint Party… a party about paint and only paint!  I can’t wait to be inspired by all your great paint projects.

This week I thought I’d share how you can paint furniture for super cheap!  Now let me say in advance that this will not be necessary the highest quality paint job, but if you’re low on cash or you want to try your hand at painting furniture without putting out the cash… these are some great tips.

If you’ve never painted furniture… I’d HIGHLY recommend it.  Shop your house for a piece that you’d don’t necessarily LOVE at the moment or check out craigslist for some free or cheap furniture (I’ve scored quite a few pieces that way).  Garage sales or hand-me-down furniture is another a great way to get a starter piece.

Now prep ~  all depends on the starting condition.  A good cleaning and sanding are always a great starting point. (You can score 12 sheets of sanding paper at a dollar store) Once you’re piece is ready, here are some ways to do it cheap.

Primer:  The cheapest primer I’ve found – basic flat spray paint!  Lowes and Wal-Mart both carry a brand that’s less than a $1 a can.  Depending on what your final color will be, picking your flat spray paint accordingly.

Tools:

Foam Rollers ~  Another dollar store goodie!

You can score 2 foam rollers for a buck!  At that price I don’t even try to clean them (and frankly they don’t last much more than 2 or so paint jobs).   I love foam rollers and brushes on furniture.

Foam Brushes: I grab these from Michaels when they are on a super sale.  Last time I got 20 for $1… can’t beat that!

These little 1 inch foam brushes are perfect for getting in all the details on your furniture piece.

Paint:  Samples!!  Most paint store and home improvement stores offer sample now days from $2.50ish – $5.

The buffet I shared last week was painted with a Valspar sample.  Under $3!!!  I got 2 coats out of it.  Score!

So there you go friends… some ways to get your paint on while spending little $$.

So what have you been painting?

Power of Paint Party Rules:
#1… This is a PAINT party… so pretty please, link-up only paint related projects.
#2… If you want to be considered for the Spotlight, you need to put my nifty POPP button (you can find it up in my menu bar’s BUTTONS) in your blog post… that way others from your blog can check out all the paint projects too.
#3… Share the Love… visit the other paint pals.

By linking up you are releasing me to feature your paint project, with proper link-backs of course!

Don’t forget… you can submit your paint project over at Power of Paint (my other blog) to have it featured.