How To Glaze Your Furniture

Who doesn’t love a good glaze? I mean it can take a plain, boring piece of furniture and really make it pop. Even better, if you have a piece of furniture with some good detail on it… it can really give it the WOW factor. Never tried it? You should.

We recommend starting all refinishing jobs with a good base. This includes cleaning, prepping, and priming before getting started. We sand all our pieces down before starting. This will ensure good adhesion of your product when you’re ready to start painting. It also removes any remaining bad finish that’s left over. If you haven’t checked out a SurfPrep sanding system… you really should 😉.

Once we’ve finished sanding, we thoroughly clean with TSP to remove all dust, oils and debris. You can find this at your local hardware store (like Home Depot). *Be sure and rinse the piece until clean after cleaning with TSP and don’t leave any residue behind as it can affect your final finish.

After cleaning, we like to prime our pieces. This ensures not only good adhesion for a long lasting, quality finish… but it will also block any odors and tannins from bleeding through your new paint finish. Our favorite primer is Bin Zinnser and we like to apply it using our Home Right Super Finish Max Sprayer.

Now that we’re ready to get started (yes it’s a lot of steps before you can even break open that can of paint but it’s worth it!!), it’s time to pick a paint and color. For this particular antique chest on chest, we chose to use Wise Owl Chalk Synthesis Paint on Isles Ave. It’s a beautiful, neutral white (not yellow!) that was released last fall. See it below; isn’t it beautiful?!?! One of the things we love about Wise Owl is there seasonal color releases 😍. Depending on the piece and coverage, we do 2-3 coats of paint.

Here’s the big secret… if you want a clean glaze job…. you have to seal after painting. Chalk paint is very porous and the glaze will really grab it. So… once you’re finished painting, seal it. We used Wise Owl Matte Varnish for this piece.

Next, it’s time to glaze. We applied our Wise Owl glaze with a Cling On S30 and wiped back. The result… a beautiful finish that really highlights all the details and crevices of this piece.

You can watch a short video above on how I apply my glaze. Please be sure and like the video and follow us on YouTube. You can find the full tutorial for this finish for purchase on our website.
Thanks so much for checking this out!

Tyler