Painting Spindles: A chore or a challenge?

I’d have to say that painting chair spindles is at the very bottom of my favorite things to do list. Spindles are often ornate, and really hard to get good coverage on if you have a thin paint or are using a bad brush. Most painters will tell you that they don’t even refinish chairs or seating with spindles because of how much work it entails. But I’m going to let you in on a little secret…painting spindles is easy. Well…easier…when you have the right tools and materials. Sure, you can take an easy route to spray them, but not everyone is set up with the equipment or the patience to learn a spray gun. Ever since I have discovered Fusion and their products, I can tell you that they have made my furniture refinishing journey not only easier with their high quality and easy to use products, but it has been enjoyable to paint things, I once despised painting. Take for example this maple bench. It’s the perfect size for a small entryway and it’s perfect as a drop zone for kids. The only issue is that it’s an ugly brown wood color, and it has spindles to paint.

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This blog post is going to be short, but I’m going to include a few photos to entice you into clicking over to the Fusion Mineral Paint website so you can see the step-by-step guide on how to recreate this look. Ill include a supply list for you here as well!

The key to any good finish is always going to be your prep. How you clean, how you sand, how you paint is all going to have an effect on your finish. For our piece, we must clean and we must sand.All those ornate crevices are hiding dust and gunk that must be cleared off for our paint. So, we start with a vacuum, a cleaning with our favorite Fusion TSP Alternative solution, and good sanding across the ornate and flat surfaces.

I knew when I bought this piece, I just had to paint it in Coal Black. It’s a timeless color that can be used year round, and it just looks very elegant on pieces like this bench. After prep was complete and I wiped down my surface again, It was time for paint. When I tell you that this piece only took TWO COATS for full coverage, I was blown away. Black is one of those colors that just seems to require more coats to get decent opaque coverage. It seems counterintuitive being as it’s a dark color, but highly pigmented colors often require more coats (in the range of 3-4). One other highly helpful tool, was that I used a Staalmester Round One Series brush. If you do not have this brush in your arsenal, RUN…do not walk to get you one! It’s perfect for the grooves in these spindles, getting you a wider coverage area, and leaving minimal to no brush strokes on your surface.

Now let’s talk about another Fusion rockstar; the Beeswax Finish. This stuff has a built hemp oil into its natural beeswax base giving you a saturated and buttery finish on your surface. I like to use this over dark colors because it really penetrates the finish and evens out any variation in the finish. It’s also gives a richer, darker hue to your paint and leaves you with a velvety satin finish. It really is a finish I cannot live without.

After a quick buff and a final wipe down, this bench was ready to be the star of my entryway. It fit perfectly in the nook of my old split ranch home in Alexandria. It had its place there for many years holding everything from plants, to blankets, to candles and backpacks. It really was the piece I needed for my drop zone.

This bench not only looks much more modernized, but it also looks like it was made for this spot in my home. Finding pieces that are functional and that work in your home can be difficult, but with a little bit of work and some paint, a fresh face on your furniture can go a long way. That’s why I LOVE what I do with paining furniture, and keeping pieces like this off the curb and out of the trash. Using Fusion products never fails to give me a beautiful finish. Hope you all enjoyed this project! Below is the supply list as promised!