Introduction
DIY expert Amy Howard shares all about High-Performance Furniture Lacquer. This nitrocellulose lacquer gives a bright pop of color to any rescued piece and offers a deeper finish than other lacquers. Nitrocellulose lacquer is what is most often used on pianos, guitars, and other musical instruments to give it that deep, beautiful shine. Thanks to our special formulation, you can use the High-Performance Furniture Lacquer on tons of the surfaces, like furniture, ceramic tiles, metal, glass, outdoor furniture, and more.
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ABOUT AMY HOWARD AT HOME
Amy Howard At Home provides creatives with a distinguished class of artisan quality refinishing products for furniture and décor. amyhowardathome.com/
RELATED CONTENT
Learn How to Lacquer: youtu.be/93haQz8lY_c
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Tools for Painting Furniture: youtu.be/vc5ZdfibY7k
How to Clean and Prep Your Furniture: youtu.be/zn6S78i5TSI
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PRODUCTS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO
High-Performance Furniture Lacquer: www.amyhowardhome.com/collections/lacquer
Bright Idea Topcoat: www.amyhowardhome.com/products/bright-idea-lacquer-clear
Furniture Lacquer Primer: www.amyhowardhome.com/products/furniture-lacquer-primer
High-Performance Lacquer Bundle:
www.amyhowardhome.com/products/high-performance-lacquer-bundle
Clean Slate: www.amyhowardhome.com/products/clean-slate
Content
Hi my name is amy howard today, I'm going to show you how to be able to create one of the fastest growing trends that you're going to notice in the interior design industry right now and that's lacquer years ago, designers would have to take furniture to their local automobile shop and have it lacquered.
But unfortunately that could cost upwards of 300 to 600 for a piece of furniture.
Now we've made it easy with amy howard at home lackers to be able to do it yourself in your own home.
There are a couple of things that you can remember when you're getting ready to do your lacquer project.
One, you can have a lot of fun to be able to pick your colors.
We have 21 colors available for those being metallic.
So when you're choosing that piece you do want to be able to make a decision where you're going to be working on your project, I would say that it's best to do it in the garage.
It needs to be in a ventilated area.
I would not work on it inside your home.
One of the little tricks that I have is for you to be able to use a clothing bag, just unzip it.
You want to get the extra wide ones that way you can place your piece inside it.
And it acts as a mini spray booth.
So on this little piece, these were actually some chairs that we got at a thrift store for 15 dollars.
And they already have a great sheen to them.
They've actually they've been shellacked.
So there's, no need for me to use.
My primer primers are really important if you're going to be working on a piece that has a grain to it.
The primer has a sanding sealer and a leveling agent in it with white paint.
So that sets it up, it allows you to be able to lightly sand it with 400 sandpaper in between coats to get it ready for your lacquer.
So on this particular project, I don't have to use my primer, but I do suggest it on other pieces that you might be, uh lacquering.
But I do need to clean this piece.
First so I'm going to take the seat off that I've already unscrewed and you're going to have grime dirt grease that's going to be on a piece over a period of time.
What I recommend using is a degreaser now you'll need to be sure.
And notice on a lot of the containers that you'll see at your local hardware stores that will say, concentrate, we need to make sure that we we cut it with water.
If it says concentrate on it, you don't want to use the solid degreaser if it needs to be cut with water.
So I've cut this with 50 water and I'm going to use a lint-free rag and come back and clean my piece, really, really well, it's also really important when you're going to be cleaning it and using a degreaser to allow it to dry a lot of people think, well, I've just cleaned it, but it's still kind of wet.
So I want to make sure and come back and make sure that I've dried it really well with another rag.
So after I've dried my piece, well, I'm actually ready for my color.
Now, the the most fun part of this is picking the color that you want your piece to come in, because the lacquers are so easy to use.
The hardest decision is going to probably be what color am.
I going to be able to do the locker room.
So once you've done that, you want to make sure that you shake it vigorously at least for two or three minutes, each can of lacquer is going to cover about 18 square feet of surface area.
So on this particular chair, I'm really only going to need one can of lacquer it's easily going to take care of it.
So after I've shaken, it very well, you'll, notice that the nozzle it's, a patented nozzle that sprays in a fan direction, most paint spray cans are going to have a circle and that's, not going to give you as pretty a finish the other thing that you need to remember.
This is your paintbrush.
This can is going to give you the ability to be able to have a wonderful 100 coverage on this piece, but it's not like putting on hairspray.
And I use that analogy.
And my husband thinks it's so funny, but you think about when women spray their hair it's, this action, it's all over the place, that's, not how we're going to lacquer a piece of furniture it's, very methodical.
We make sure that it's nice and tight.
We want to stay around five to six inches from our piece, but it's, not everywhere because what's going to happen that's going to be overspray that's going to make your piece, go completely dead, flat and it's going to be bumpy.
If you have problems on your piece and you're like it's, not as shiny as I would want it to be that's, probably because you've got an overspray on it.
So it's really important to start at the top of the piece and work your way down so I'm going to turn my chair around and starting off you see I let off on the cap that way I am being very methodical I'm going to come back and overlay on top of what I've already sprayed along the way as I'm working on it I'm going to give them a nice, shake.
You see already.
I can see I see a couple of areas.
I want to be able to just kind of come back on and I'm going to work my way down.
Now you can turn the nozzle up or down, depending on which area that you're working on.
But you see that I want to make sure that I'm covering it as I'm working my way down.
Because if I started to just move around the chair, I would get overspray from a particular area so I'm going to continue on with my legs like this I'm going to come back and I'm going to put an entire first coat on my piece, I'm going to allow it to dry about 45 minutes to an hour.
What's really really important the more glossy, the more refined.
And the more fabulous.
I want my piece to look it's going to be taking care of it in between the stages.
So after this has dried for about an hour, I'm going to come back with 400 grit, sandpaper and lightly come over it all over my finish and then I'm going to put a second coat of my orchid lacquer on top of it.
Now I've come back on my little chair.
I have two coats of lacquer on it.
I sanded in between with my 400 grit.
Now as a final application, I'm going to come back with what we call our bright idea.
I love this product because it's great for two things.
It gives me an added protection for my finish because lacquer is a nitrocellulose lacquer, and it will have a tendency to chip with a lot of heavy use, or if you have puppies, or you have children in your home.
And as we all do with our family, so we want to just protect it.
And I use the analogy of with your nails when you have your nails done.
And you get that top coat on top of it it's extra protection and it's, extra gloss so I'm going to shake it vigorously.
Just like I did with my lacquer.
This is completely dried and I'm going to come back the same way again, I'm going to start at the very top, because I don't want overspray to come down on it and make it go flat.
So I'm, again, I'm using my can just like, I would a paintbrush I'm going to come back I'm overlapping and you'll.
Notice, again, it's really important don't, get too far away.
But yet you don't want puddling if you get puddling don't freak out, I just want you to be able to come back with some 400 grit sandpaper after it's, dried lightly sand.
It out put a nice clean pass over it again and then you're going to go to the next step.
The cool thing about the lacquer is that I can use it on top of resin.
I can use it on glass ceramic tile wood things that are already lacquered.
I also love being able to incorporate it with the one step paint when I'll come in and I'll use it on fabric.
I'll lay a stencil on top of it.
And then I'll spray, my lacquer to be able to give details on it.
So after I've applied, my bright idea, there's, no need to sand afterwards, I'm going to be happy with the fact that it's nice and glossy and it's protected I'm, just going to allow it to be able to dry for a couple of hours.
Now when you're working with nitrocellulose lacquers and the bright idea topcoats, you do want to be able to allow about two to three days for it to cure before you start using it moving with it hauling it around in your car.
This sweet little rescue chair is going to make some preteen young girl, really, really happy I'm going to put some faux sheet, fur on here that way we'll have a pair of them in our room, it'll make a great desk chair.
So you can take rescued furniture, how many of us haven't seen pieces of furniture, laying on the side of the road.
Next time you see it just remember how awesome it was that we did the finish with this lacquer and how easy it was just in an afternoon.
Then you get to go enjoy the bragging rights you.
