I thought long and hard about starting a blog - with so many already out there, would there be anything new that I could bring readers? Would what I have to say be informative? Helpful? Worth reading?
After a lot of thought and reading other blogs I believe that yes, it is worth starting one. It's worth helping not only fellow furniture artists with their craft, but also buyers. It's worth telling the truth, not sugar coating anything and giving honest, informative reviews, demos and information.
The furniture painting trend has reached an all time high with painters ranging from hobbyists to full time, professional re-finishers and everything in between. As a buyer, it's hard to know where to start when looking for painted furniture - is painted furniture right for your home? What questions should you ask the artist before buying? Is the artist a hobbyist or do they refinish furniture full time? How much time has been put into the piece that you are buying? There are so many questions to ask, and all for good reason!
The artists that I've had the pleasure of meeting (as well as myself) are all meticulous about furniture refinishing and their standards are very, very high. They aren't just grabbing a piece of the street corner, slapping a coat of paint on it asking for $100 and calling it a day. We take our time searching out and finding that perfect piece. A piece that is perhaps vintage or antique but still sturdy with strong bones. A piece that will continue to withstand the test of time and not just fall apart the second you bring it home. Pieces with character that you look at and can't help but say, "Wow!!"
Once we have found that perfect piece, we take it home and clean it thoroughly, sand it, clean it again, prime it, paint it with high quality, durable products and seal it. We take the time to stage it and photograph it, post it on our websites and social media. We market our pieces to audiences we know will appreciate our art, (because let's face it, furniture painting is an art.) We don't take a day to finish a dresser. We take weeks. We are not out to make a quick buck - we are creating art. We won't sell you a piece of furniture that we wouldn't be proud to show case in our own home. I often won't even start working on a piece until it has "told me" what it wants to be. I need to see it fully finished in my mind before I begin.
This can't be said for everyone in this industry. There are those that do this as a hobby, happy to break even or even come up a bit short, because it's "fun" to paint furniture. Often, these are the pieces that chip and scratch within a few weeks of being in their new home, as the painters are not putting their heart and soul into their work. It's a fun pass time and a way to make some extra money. (I remember buying a set of French Provincial side tables off of an obvious hobbyist with plans to refinish them - she had them priced mindbogglingly low - and just putting them in my trailer, the paint peeled off in my hands. Ah. Yes. So THAT'S why they were priced so low. Clearly there was no sanding, no priming, no prep work and no sealing. She was just out to make some fast money.
This can turn buyers off of painted furniture. After all, who wants to spend $500 on a dresser only to have it chip and peel a week later? Would they really trust another piece of painted furniture after that?
I want my blog to help artists in their furniture refinishing journey as well as helping to inform the buyers of what really goes into this form of artistry. Why we use the products we use, why we price the way we do. Why we shake our heads and sigh when someone gives us a low ball offer and says, "it's just some paint."
So sit back, grab a cup of coffee, check out some blog posts and enjoy!
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