Painting Furniture With Children

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If you’re like me painting anything with children makes me nervous. I have to mentally prepare myself. Even though they want to do their best there’s always the worry about a mess. If you don’t care about a few drips or a less than perfect finish why not let them try. So, after a good nights rest and some prior planning I was ready to have my children do some furniture painting.

We are in the process of building our first home and we couldn’t be more excited!

Even though I would love to buy a whole houseful of new furniture to fill it I’ve decided to take pieces we already have and give them a face lift. These are pieces that will go into my children’s rooms, so to get them excited about their new spaces I wanted to get them involved. Plus, I want to help them learn a new skill and develop their confidence in being able to try new things.

To start we headed to our local Home Depot and let the kids pick out the color of their paint. We got the small sample jars and that was plenty. Here’s what we got to get started:

Furniture Painting Supplies

Sample sizes of Behr paint
Disposable containers
Sponge brushes
Drop cloth
Sanding blocks

What to do to keep the mess to a minimum

Lay out a LARGE drop cloth. You know kids can get paint in places you never thought possible.
Have them wear clothes you don’t care if they get messy.
Only pour a small amount of paint into their containers = less paint to spill.
Use sponge brushes. More expensive brushes can get ruined if paint gets too deep into the bristles.
Be right there with them to help catch drips and to guide where needed.
If the kids have long hair tie it back.
Have them watch where they’re walking. If paint has dripped on the drop cloth you don’t want them tracking it into the house.

Tips to teach your children

It’s important to prepare your furniture by cleaning and sanding.
Painting in a well ventilated area is important.
Remove knobs and hinges.
After dipping the brush in the paint scrape it against the edge of the container.
Brush the paint back and forth in the same direction, hopefully with the grain of the wood.
If the child is very young have them paint the back of the piece.

Important to remember!

Make it fun! Giggle, play music, and talk to each other about where the furniture is going and what they can put on it.
Take breaks and give treats while the coats are drying.
If they don’t want to finish that’s OK. At least they made an effort. Try to encourage them to try again every now and then.
Celebrate their accomplishments.

I did the finishing touches and added some knobs. The kids and I loved the results and I’m so excited to see them in their rooms. It actually turned out to be fun activity with little mess. I might just do it again.