Dip your brush in the paint, wipe one side on the tray and then… STOP before touching the furniture. This pause in the painting process is when most ridges, drips and heavy brush strokes are created. The brush is too loaded with paint before it ever touches the furniture piece. Furniture decorating can be much easier and more pleasant by keeping paint thickness to a bare minimum. Paint builds, it does not fill in and cover thickly.
Paint thickness affects every furniture piece. Heavy brush marks can be seen on flat surfaces, like a drawer front, and on the curves of a chair leg. Drips can occur and flow under furniture pieces. Heavy brush work can over-fill detailed trim and soften decorative edges. Thin layers of paint may not provide you the immediate satisfaction as they don’t cover right away, but they will dry easier, more evenly and will set up more cleanly for your second or final coat.
Learning to keep your brush less loaded with paint is step one to keeping paint at a thinner application. Touch only a portion of your bristles with the paint, then remove any excessive load with the side of the tray. You should have a brush that is barely damp and ready to touch and not saturated with paint. Use an unused board for practice and pull the brush in one direction across the board, observing the beginning and ending edges of your brush stroke. Is there a heavy line at the beginning? A dry spot at the end? Is a ridge visible on the outer edge of the brush stroke? Adjust your brush load, touch up the ridges with lighter pressure and spread the paint out a bit further.
Brushes can leave ridges and heavy loads, so try using a foam brush for flat surfaces such as large panels. Use a small foam brush for flat surfaces such as a table top or a large door. Keep the pressure light and avoid squeezing the roller to get every last bit of paint off the brush. If the brush or roller starts skipping across the surface or feels too sticky, stop and reload it with a light touch. Too much pressure with a roller will leave a bumpy and textured surface, which will be even more noticeable as you move to a satin sheen or use a water-based topcoat. This lighter approach will produce a better first coat on many furniture pieces than trying to fix the paint job later.
Corners and edges need extra attention with thicker applications of paint. When a drawer front has been painted, look for drips underneath. Check around any hardware and trim before moving on to the next piece. A drip on the edge of a piece is easily remedied by gently smoothing it out with the corner or tip of the brush. Finding a drip after some drying time can be very challenging to fix and will likely require sanding before another coat can be applied. This is another reason why extra lights help! Side lights, angled lighting and daylight will help you to see the brush ridge and the heavier lines of paint.
Paint thickness can also be controlled through drying time. When a surface looks uneven or streaky, your instinct is to brush over it right away. However, brushing over a wet or partially dry coat can pull out of the paint and leave a rough and unsatisfying brush stroke. Follow the directions on the can, allow it to dry, and only consider another coat if absolutely necessary. Brushing two thin coats will often be more even and easier to maintain control on than brushing one heavy coat. Two light coats will also make it much easier to evaluate the quality of your primer, your brush pressure or your furniture preparation techniques.
In all painting tasks, do not ask, “Is it fully covered?,” Instead, ask, “Is this coat even enough to support the next?” Scan your work from an angle, not straight from above. Check for any ridges on corners, edges, or near hardware, before the paint begins to set. Your paint job will have fewer problems if your brushes are not too loaded, if you use light pressure with rollers, and if you allow your paint to dry properly.