Questions for Icequeen

['andersom']

How do I spray paint (or otherwise best paint) furniture in my apartment without dying or destroying the apartment?  I have a sliding glass door in my living room, so ventilation could hypothetically be about as good as it gets without no longer being strictly indoors.

Oh, and the furniture has metal, plastic, and painted wood parts, so fuck if I even know what paint will stick to it.

If you can't answer this one don't feel bad; I've been mulling over it for like half a decade and never got around to figuring it out properly.

Water based acrylic paint is good to keep you from dying. The smell of it is gone very soon, and it dries really quick too. (You can often apply a second layer an hour after you put on the first layer, with acrylic paint) There are primers to put on plastic, before you apply the layer of paint you want. Those primers do exist in acrylic versions too. I never painted on plastic, but apparently it can be done without a problem.
Water based acrylic paint can be used on top of a terpentine based alkyd paint, but not the other way around.  So if you want to paint stuff that has been painted before, water based acrylic paint may be the way to go.

I never used spray paint, just a roller or a paint brush. Old newspapers on the floor kept my environment free from paint. Ex of mine always uses spray paint. Old newspapers and painters tape are what he uses. He uses aerosol-cans, and sprays from not too far a distance. His house is free of paint stains. And he has painted most of his furniture by now.

Before you start to paint it is important to get what you want to paint really clean, especially clean from fat. So, using a good fat removing detergent, or ammonia to clean first. And sanding is important too. It makes it easier for the paint to attach to where you want it.

If you only want to paint parts of your furniture, covering what you do not want to paint with newspapers or plastic and painter-tape will give you good edges. If you do use painter tape, make sure to remove it after a day or two at the most. Then it still goes really easy. After that it will get more and more attached to where you stuck it on. After a few weeks it may be almost impossible to remove it without lots of hassle.

If you have never painted before, searching some youtubes on painting techniques may be helpful. Some DIY chains do provide youtube information on almost everything.

['andersom']

Wouldn't taking the furniture outdoors to do the painting resolve the issue?

And get dust, sand, leaves and insects stuck in the drying paint?

Would give it an artistic look. 

[MLA]

Wouldn't taking the furniture outdoors to do the painting resolve the issue?

And get dust, sand, leaves and insects stuck in the drying paint?

Well, I didn't recommend rolling the freshly painted item around in the dirt, or doing it in a windstorm   Put it on the sidewalk on a calm day and it shouldn't be an issue.

['andersom']

Wouldn't taking the furniture outdoors to do the painting resolve the issue?

And get dust, sand, leaves and insects stuck in the drying paint?

Would give it an  look. 

Bloody wordfilter.

Would give it an artistic look. 

[Queen Victoria]

Duct tape the suckers.

[El]

Wouldn't taking the furniture outdoors to do the painting resolve the issue?

I don't have access to an outdoor space for this kind of thing.  I live in an apartment complex.  I have a teeny little porch that doesn't have enough room that I feel assured that wind won't blow paint everywhere, let alone blowing shit into the paint.  Everything else outdoors is shared.  I don't want to piss my landlord or my neighbors off.

[WolFish]

Wouldn't taking the furniture outdoors to do the painting resolve the issue?

I don't have access to an outdoor space for this kind of thing.  I live in an apartment complex.  I have a teeny little porch that doesn't have enough room that I feel assured that wind won't blow paint everywhere, let alone blowing shit into the paint.  Everything else outdoors is shared.  I don't want to piss my landlord or my neighbors off.

I vote what hyke said. I've tried spray paint several times and made a mess of it because it works best from a distance I can't figure out. For me brushes are more forgiving - I favor natural bristle brushes with foam being my second choice. Natural bristle makes nice smooth strokes, foam is cheap and does an adequate job, and plastic bristles hate me.

[Icequeen]

Just home from vacation. 

I can't spray paint at all indoors, triggers my asthma every time. If you can set up a fan sucking the fumes out, tolerate the fumes, and have room to lay down some plastic though, give it a go.

Rustoleum makes some great metallic spray paints that are almost true to color if you are changing the finish of something from say...shiny brass to oil rubbed bronze. I've used them on everything from metal stands to doorknobs (doorknobs are still holding up well going on 3+ years). I like to prime first if possible, several light coats are always better and prevent runs, and let the paint cure (I like to let things set for 3 days - week, depending on how much handling it will see.

Krylon makes some nice spray paint for plastic, just make sure to sand with a fine grit sandpaper around say 220 to scuff the surface up, especially if it has a gloss to it or it will flake off in no time.

Wood if it has veneer I like to sand the veneer, but otherwise have gotten away with just giving it a good couple coats of primer, I use Klitz (latex, I can't tolerate the fumes with oil) and either a roller or a foam bush, sand after priming and I like the Rustoleum painter's touch stuff (latex) and finish with a couple coats of minwax paste wax in the yellow can.

Normally I drag everything out in the yard and do it here, but latex isn't too bad. They make latex spray paint, but the color choices are limited and they don't carry it around here. Never tried it to see about durability.

['andersom']

Oh, for sanding plastics, using waterproof very fine sandpaper, and sanding it wet will prevent fine plastic dust filling your room. With wood I would not recommend wet sanding.

Elle, if you are completely new to painting, you could buy something cheap you like the shape of in a thrift-shop, and practice on that.

About preparation, proper preparation will make paintwork look lots better, and will make it last longer too. But when I see Dutch bikes parked at a station, lots of them have been brightly painted with barely any preparation, and the paint holds for years and years. Some have been spray painted, others with a brush, most with "regular" paints, not something especially for metal. Only if they forgot to de-grease the surface, you will see gaps in the paintwork appear quickly.

[WolFish]

Welcome back, Icequeen - we missed you!
OK, so what am I doing wrong with spray paint?
If I spray from a distance paint goes everywhere except on the item. If I get closer, then it runs and drips and makes a gooey mess even if I use a brush afterwards. The last thing I tried was a wood advent calendar (blue) - ended up throwing the bloody mess away. Before that I successfully spray painted a small tabletop black (did that one outside and wasted a lot of paint). Can't figure out why that one worked and the other didn't. Both cans came from the same store, both Krylon. Only the color was different.

[Icequeen]

Welcome back, Icequeen - we missed you!
OK, so what am I doing wrong with spray paint?
If I spray from a distance paint goes everywhere except on the item. If I get closer, then it runs and drips and makes a gooey mess even if I use a brush afterwards. The last thing I tried was a wood advent calendar (blue) - ended up throwing the bloody mess away. Before that I successfully spray painted a small tabletop black (did that one outside and wasted a lot of paint). Can't figure out why that one worked and the other didn't. Both cans came from the same store, both Krylon. Only the color was different.

Learning distance is hard, you want to be close enough to mist it, but not too close, I'd estimate about 7"- 8", the first two coats should be light enough to still let you see the original color peaking through. Shake the can really well, and when you're painting keep the can in constant motion back and forth. I get my best results outside, on a sunny warm days (80-85 degrees F), and waiting time can be as short as 6-10 min between coats on a nice warm day (seems to help bake the finish).

Hold the can upside down and spray to clear the nozzle if you don't use up the whole can. I also have a cheap re-useable trigger grip that I love, saves your index finger on large projects.

['andersom']

If you use primmer first, adding a little bit of the colour you want can sometimes save you a layer of paint, because the primer then already carries a bit of the colour, and is less likely to shine through in an irritating way.

[El]

Do we have opinions on paints that have the primer already in them?

['andersom']

Wasn't aware that they existed. If so, are they lots more expensive, both in volume and in use?

A separate primer is way cheaper than the final paint. You could skip the primer, but it would take more of the final paint. If I repaint my baseboards, I do not apply primer, just clean and sand the old layer till it is ready for a new layer. On new wood, that will suck in paint like a sponge, a primer works great to fill the pores. If you do not prime new porous wood, you might need a few extra layers of your expensive paint.

The primer fills the pores, and covers the background well. The finishing paint is there for colour, durability strength and the kind of shine you want. A primer often is not so good in holding it's colour. A primer often is less of a pleasure to use too, because of the structure it has to have to fill those pores.

Don't know if I would try a two in one solution.

[WolFish]

Welcome back, Icequeen - we missed you!
OK, so what am I doing wrong with spray paint?
If I spray from a distance paint goes everywhere except on the item. If I get closer, then it runs and drips and makes a gooey mess even if I use a brush afterwards. The last thing I tried was a wood advent calendar (blue) - ended up throwing the bloody mess away. Before that I successfully spray painted a small tabletop black (did that one outside and wasted a lot of paint). Can't figure out why that one worked and the other didn't. Both cans came from the same store, both Krylon. Only the color was different.

Learning distance is hard, you want to be close enough to mist it, but not too close, I'd estimate about 7"- 8", the first two coats should be light enough to still let you see the original color peaking through. Shake the can really well, and when you're painting keep the can in constant motion back and forth. I get my best results outside, on a sunny warm days (80-85 degrees F), and waiting time can be as short as 6-10 min between coats on a nice warm day (seems to help bake the finish).

Hold the can upside down and spray to clear the nozzle if you don't use up the whole can. I also have a cheap re-useable trigger grip that I love, saves your index finger on large projects.

I bet it was the humidity that screwed me up. The paint would take days just to get tacky.