How to Paint Wood

Whatever you are painting is going to have to be prepped.  If the piece is already painted, it may not have to be stripped.  But if the finish is badly damaged and cracking, it is a good idea to strip and prep the piece from square one.  After stripping your piece you must finish sand it.  This means getting the piece sanded enough to where a good couple coats of paint will build a decent finish.  If during the stripping process you used 60- 80 or even 100- 150 grit sandpaper, you will need to upgrade to a final sanding of at least 220.  This gives the wood a paintable surface.  It saves time in the finishing process as well.
When priming a piece, use water based primer with water based paints, and oil based primers with oil based paints.  Make sure as you are brushing the paint you are smoothing out the brush marks as you work.  When the first coat is dry, lightly sand with 220 grit sandpaper.
Apply one coat of paint and let dry.  Lightly sand with 400 grit sandpaper.  Always clean up the piece with a tack cloth after sanding.  You dont' want any sanding residue to gum up any following coats.
Apply the final coat.  DO NOT SAND THE FINAL COAT!  If you want to apply a clear polyurethane topcat if the piece is going to get heavy use you can.  Just make sure you wet-sand with 600 grit sandpaper before applying. Use a water based polyurethane over any latex paint and oil based over any oil based paint.  It takes time and is definately a process.
As always.  It's not rocket science but you have to know what you are doing.  If you have any problems email us at Furniture Works and we can help.