Since I painted my first kitchen set back in June, a lot of people have been asking me for a quote to do the same thing in their sets. Most of them just want me to replicate what I did with that particular one, which is off-white, lightly distressed and antiqued chairs and table legs, with a dark stained top.

Some of those requests did become orders, so lately I’ve been doing a lot of kitchen sets, and there should be a few more coming this year. This week alone I worked on two sets. For my surprise, one of my customers wanted hers painted black, with a very dark stained top.

For the second time in a month I was pushed out of my comfort zone (remember the French dresser with cup pulls?), but this time I just trusted my customer and got to work.

Since anything that goes in the kitchen is heavily handled and it eventually gets wet, messy and greasy, I decided to go oil-based, and used a semi-gloss spray paint on the whole set.
I sanded down the top and stained it with General Finishes Java Gel. It didn’t work. The wood had some deep dark stains probably from previous attempts to restain it. As plan B, I used the same gel stain as “paint”, and brushed a thin layer of it on the top and let it dry for one day before I sprayed a glossy polyurethane.

Here are the products I used:
Rustoleum black spray paint, semi-gloss
General Finishes Java gel stain
Varathane polyurethane spray, gloss.

Once again I had a pleasant surprise with the result. I think the black gave it cool, elegant look. Do you agree?

Love,

Patricia.