paint furniture

We’re moving into a new house in April, and there is a large room in the basement that I’m planning to claim at least half of as my art studio. So once we’re settled in, I’m going to start painting furniture again and trying to sell it. Would be nice to have a little extra income from that, since it’s something I can have fun with anyway!

Wow, the title of this goal certainly makes it sound boring, doesn’t it? I’m not talking about just painting furniture a solid color, or antiquing it. I was in a visual arts magnet program in high school (oh, those were the days… nothing but art six hours a day), and as a fundraiser for our program, we rescued furniture from trash heaps, refurbished it, painted it creatively, and auctioned it off. We wound up with all sorts of crazy creations, from a dresser painted with a copy of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” to all sorts of original creations.

Mine was a sad doorless wardrobe that I rescued from a Dumpster and built new doors for; I painted fiery-colored fall leaves all over the door panels, and cut some leaf shapes out with a jigsaw for additional interest. Framed the doors in forest green, slapped on some painted knobs, painted the cabinets a beautiful tawny color, and sold that sucker for $425. Later, I painted a child-sized dresser with a different Monet-style picture on each drawer and sold that as well, but for much less because I didn’t know where to take it to sell, so I just stuck it into my parents’ yard sale and hoped for the best.

Now my parents have opened a booth in an antique store/peddler’s mall, and they’ve been buying auction lots that often include mismatched bits of furniture. Their basement is just full of furniture waiting for me to rescue it and give it a facelift, and their booth is the perfect place for me to sell whatever I create! I’ve got a few pieces from them at my house (actually wish they’d stop bringing it over, don’t have the room for it!) and I’m trying to get motivated to get to work on them. The first piece is a small wooden table with an octagonal top… any suggestions? I’m also picturing painting some of my bookshelves in a trompe l’oeil style, with old-style book spines and pieces of art painted behind the shelves so that they look full even when they aren’t.