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Given the impressive and professional looking appearance of many types of painted wood furniture, you might think that the task of painting your own pieces is far beyond your capabilities. You may decide that it is better to leave the job in the hands of experts who have long years of experience in such matters. You are of course partly right in thinking this way, the painting of ornate and intricately crafted pieces of wood furniture should really be done by experienced furniture painters, if you want to be assured of a thorough and proper finish. For the vast majority of wooden furniture however, especially those that are somewhat simple in design, you can probably take on the job yourself. All that is needed are some good paintbrushes (you would ideally want to have no less than 3 good quality ones handy), some primer, some polyurethane, some stick to mix the paint with and of course some latex or enamel paint. You will also want to have an abundant supply of rags or newspapers to catch any spills that will inevitably occur, and for clean up afterwards, you will need a sponge, some soap and some water. Before you begin, don’t confuse painting with refinishing, this is an entirely different and somewhat more complicated task. Refinishing will involve stripping any existing paint down and applying some wood stain and finally applying the finish. This procedure can be quite messy and will take up a considerable amount of time, so if you have no patience to go through all of that, you would do well to leave it up to someone who does, so that you can be sure that it is done properly. You will first need to apply some primer. Brush the primer in a light one direction motion and allow drying for the next coat. This primer can hide small nicks and cracks to come up with a nice flat surface finish. It will also assure you of a good paint adhesion. Next, choose from any of the many available colors of paint available, but make sure that it complements the room that the furniture will be placed in. Mostly you will need two or more coats of paint. Again brush the paint lightly and avoid fast build up that results to dripping, let the paint dry off a bit before doing another coat. To avoid messing up your arms with paint, do the inner parts or the hard to reach areas first then go outwards, this way you will avoid touching wet paint. Lastly try to have fun and remember that after the job, you will be looking at a fresh item that you will be proud of. | 
