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by: Jane La Ferla
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The secret's out: it's scandalously easy to transform plain wooden furniture into objets d'art with a personal flourish. The popularity of the art of decorative painting for furniture has given rise to numerous books on its instruction (such as Painted Furniture Patterns and Painted Wooden Furniture). Add to this growing list Fresh Paint: New Looks for Unfinished Furniture, which combines simplicity of design, layout, and directions with vibrant photos of finished projects. (Note that the focus here is solely on painting new wooden furniture, not antiques or garage-sale finds.) After a brief but thorough tutorial on tools, materials, and basic priming and painting techniques, author Lane LaFerla lists the necessary materials and tools for each project. Then, in easy-to-follow, numbered sections, the 45 projects unfurl. Many of these projects--which include tables; chests, nightstands, and dressers; benches and stools; bookcases; chairs; and accessories--are suitable for the novice furniture painter and require no more effort than sandpapering, priming, painting, using whatever medium (leaves, napkins, old photos, etc.) adds that special detail to the project, and applying varnish. From these easy steps we get some extremely fanciful objects: a pizza-parlor table, a cabinet with faux rustic punched-tin inlay, a "plaid" footstool, a coat rack decorated in a rainforest theme, a gold and silver mosaic shelf. In the back, you'll find all the design patterns used in the projects; you can copy them and use them over and over. Many of these projects are perfect for children's rooms and activity areas, especially the chalkboard dresser, which is just made for little hands to scribble on. --Stefanie Durbin
From Library Journal Nineteen designers have contributed to this book of colorful step-by-step projects for decorating purchased unfinished furniture, mainly chairs and small tables. The projects are brightly colored and somewhat whimsical, making them suitable for children's rooms or informal living areas. Particularly notable is a faux pizza table (its round top painted to look like a pizza) and a celestial rocker with astronomy motifs and glued-on wooden spheres. Introductory material about supplies and painting techniques is minimal, making this a good addition to a crafts collection already having a basic furniture painting book such as Decorative Painting Sourcebook (LJ 6/15/97). Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author Jane LaFerla lives in Asheville, North Carolina where she is a successful gallery owner, weaver, and experienced crafter.
Reviews:
Love at first site: Wow! Every now and then an artist (or group of artists) comes up with a great artistic book and it actually gets published and has great photography and writing staff. But it's no wonder; the book was done in Asheville, NC, (USA) a mountain tourist town filled with great boutiques, galleries, artsy stores and many talented artists. I borrowed this book from my local library and had no idea I would fall in love so much so that; I had no choice but to purchase my own copy! I am a professional artist and believe me; most books of this kind have prooved to be totally useless to me; but this book was so inspirational, delightful and colorful; I am coming up with numerous designs of my own as a result of the great artists that put together this book. I hope I get to meet these people some day; so I can personnally thank them for their great work!
Not as helpful as I thought: While all the projects in this book were nice, it did not help me at all. I did not realize until I got the book and opened it that the projects were very specific--not just techniques, but patterns for specific designs. Like silhouettes of birds eating berries; a frog on a plant, etc. They were all very loud and colorful--too much so for my purposes at the moment.Even the ones with checks or squares were very design-specific. I thought that the book was going to show more different techniques to use on furniture instead of definite designs. And like I said, the designs were pretty and unique but if you're not very artistically inclined (as I am not), then it would be hard to adapt them or change them to create new ones for your project. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad book at all--it is just not useful if you are not looking for odd, very loudly colored patterns for painting furniture. It shows no dragging, flogging, etc. techniques or how to layer colors or anything like that. I didn't use one thing out of the book, so it was a waste of money for me.
This book demands attention with all of it's great ideas: I thumb through furniture painting books when I'm at the library - Usually, I can tell right away if there's something in it that will capture my attention. When I first thumbed through this book, I was amazed at how every single feature jumped out at me. The colors used on these pieces of furniture are striking and the designs are beautiful and unique. This book offers something different than all of the rest - it does two things: first, all of the fabulous ideas get you excited and motivated. It makes you want to run right out and find something to paint. Second, each piece of furniture is so uniquely done, you cannot help but want to use your imagination and create your own works of art. Have you ever considered decoupaging tissue paper onto a table? How about napkins? It sounds unusual, but these designs work beautifully. I would purchase this book in an instant - it is one of the best out there, in my opinion.
Whimsical and Unusual Designs: This book really accelerated my creativity. I have copied several designs as well as modifying others. Simple, unusual and detailed directions. Utilizing common furniture pieces. Unusual supplies are included to make the projects even more exciting, such as napkins, blueprints,etc. Have Fun!