How to Glaze painted Furniture

How to Glaze a painted Furniture

Glaze is simply a thin, translucent film mixed with the paint to extend the drying time of your paint thereby giving you more experimental time to play with your glaze. It is basically a stain that can be wiped on and then wiped off giving the furniture an aged, worn and an antique look.

Many faux and decorative paint techniques require glaze, it is essential to create rich, dimensional paint treatments. There can be multiple techniques to apply glaze. Water based glazes and paints are the easiest to work with and to clean up.

How to Glaze painted Furniture
How to Glaze painted Furniture

A low luster or semi-gloss latex or acrylic paint will seal the surface well. Several ways and steps are to be followed to glaze painted furniture.

Steps to glaze a painted furniture

1. Prime the furniture

Cover an unfinished piece of furniture completely with an oil-based primer and let it dry.

2. Base coat of Paint

Apply the base coat of paint as a satin finish will make the applying of glaze easier. Paint can be applied either by a brush which will give an aged look or by a foam roller which will give a smoother finish.

Before applying the glaze, let me just aware you that glaze is most likely to change the paint color like with reds, it will deepen the color, and with blues and greens, it will give it a more of a greenish texture, whereas with yellows, it will give a mustard color and with whites, it will give a dirty, beige or a mocha look. So, make sure to do a patch test.

3. Brush the glaze all over the furniture

Brush the glaze generously on the piece and make sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Therefore, a brush should be used as it is much easier to get into the intricate parts of the furniture. If it is a large piece, then work in sections to avoid drying of lines.

4. Heavy glazed look or lighter glazed look

For a heavy glazed look, just take a dry paper towel and wipe it until all the streaks are blended. Make sure to wipe away all those streaks and to make the look blended. Also, for a lighter glazed look, just take a clean paper towel dampened with mineral spirits and wipe it down. Then, take another clean paper towel and again wipe it down. This can be repeated once or twice.

5. Wipe off the glaze

Wipe the glaze off using a rag or a cheesecloth as cheesecloth gives a smoother finish and a rag gives the wiping effect. This process should be repeated until the desired finish is achieved.

6. Highlighting

Highlight all the architectural features by taking the same glaze and brushing it into the crevices of door or drawer fronts, if applying on them. Wipe off the excess glaze. Also, to highlight the edges of the piece, take the brush with a little bit of glaze on the tip and running it along all the edges, thus leaving a line of glaze.

7. Last Finish

Once the glaze dries, add a coat of polyurethane to protect the finish and to give a subtle look.

What are your thoughts on glazing painted furniture? Share your views in the comment area.

One thought on “How to Glaze a painted Furniture”

  1. Some good tips here, thanks. Upcycling furniture is great fun and also great for the environment, so always good to read tips around this subject, thanks.

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