How to Paint Furniture Black | My Top Tips for using Fusion Mineral Paint Coal Black

Hey Friends! It's Melanie with Lost & Found, here today with a furniture painting tip!

Black is one of the most common colors to paint furniture. That sleek finish is hard to resist!

However, painting furniture black has a few challenges, especially if you're working with a diy furniture paint like chalk paint or Fusion Mineral Paint.

In this video, I pass along a few tips for how to deal with some common problems that come along with painting furniture black, and also share some of my favorite products.

Here are a few links to the products I use and mention in the video, just to make it easy peasy for you to find them!

* Fusion Mineral Paint Coal Black

*Jolie Noir

* MMS Milk Paint Typewriter

* Fusion Beeswax Finish

* Fusion Hemp Oil

* Stain & Finishing Oil

Please drop a comment if you have any of your tips!

See more furniture painting tips on my blog:

Let's Get Social!

[bimhay]

Excellent tips and presented in an easy to understand manner. Many thanks

[razetw]

Fusion black is not beginner friendly if you are going for a no brush stroke finish. Here's my experience with it.

Brushes 100% can make or break your results.

I've tried soft nylon brushes. Nylon doesn't hold paint for large surfaces and is hard around small thin areas.

Nylon poly combo brushes hold paint too good to s fault... fusion coal is too viscous (its not compatible with water so you can't dilute it like other paint) and doesn't release easily nor thin enough so it forces you to back stroke and over work just to spread it out. Worse in large areas. It's hard to feather out and spread thin.

Staalmeister brushes have a propietery blend and whatever it is it is a match made in heaven for fusion. It can hold as little or a lot of coal black and just as important if not more, it releases smoothly with a little pressure and more consistently. But they are pricey.

No one talks about rolling fusion too much especially coal black but after buying 5 different brushes and even sanding in between coats I always had brush strokes no matter what I bought.

I ended up trying a whizz 3/8th in. microfiber roller and I got the best results. I dampened the roller first, added a teaspoon of fusion extender to my paint tray and stirred it well. Next I did a quick W pattern to lay out the paint, then misted with water, then quickly rolled over everything but in one direction. You have less than a minute to do this including re wetting your roller to start the next section so work fast, precise, try your best not to re roll over the same spot more than 4 times. Over lapping lines will level out. Let it dry over night. Next day I sanded lightly with a 220 sponge in one direction. Then I wet sanded with 600, 800, and 1000. Always in one direction. Seems like over kill but the 220 knocks down any high long streaks you might have caused over lapping roller lines. The wet sanding evens out the entire area and knocks down any texture. Fusion is sticky and grabby enough to do a second coat even though the first layer has been sanded up to 1000grit. Repeat the process of rolling and misting a second coat. This second final coat leave as is. Don't sand at all. Now your stuck with the results and you must accept any flaws.

You could resand up from 220 to 1000 and paint a 3rd coat if you had major flaws other wise leave it and accept it as a lived-in finish rather than factory finish.

Next day use a water dampened blue lint free cloth from the auto department we've all seen with very little pressure to clean any dust. Then use a brown paper bag to do a final sanding over the horizontal surfaces. It's the equivalent of 2000 grit to knock down any embedded dust and debris. Lastly apply a top coat.

I refuse to test fusion tough coat because it can produce a cloudy look but I have used fusion beeswax applied with a natural bristle brush, and it is absolutely fool proof. Plus with a brush it's easier than a rag to get into tight right angle corners than a wadded rag. Wipe off the wax with a blue rag and enjoy the results. This gives me the most brush stroke free, absolutely buttery smooth finish, and it's so luxurious you just want to keep touching it like a freshly waxed car. I have not tried top coating with ebony or clear fusion SFO for more high traffic durability but allowing fusion 21-day cure time I'm confident 2 coats of fusion and the Beeswax will hold up well.

If you are chasing perfection, the wet sanding is not hard but I find it hard to skip. Do not skip this. At least wet sand once.

It's not fusions fault. Black in matte or flat finish is brutally revealing of dust flaws finger prints.... You look at it the wrong way it adds a flaw.

Using the relatively inexpensive Microfiber roller and additional wet sanding gave me the best results with coal black.

I re did night stands 3 times testing all the brushes from Purdy Wooster whizz staalmeister... Brushing it was the cheapest and gave me the 99.99%perfect finish I was chasing with coal black. The beeswax gave me the added sheen while keeping the dust away and my eyes happy. I can't stop touching them now and you won't either.

Diablo makes different sanding papers. They have a pack of WET sanding paper combo pack with the 600, 800, 1000 I used. Hard to find in stores not all Lowes carries it.

I hope it helps just one person from giving up on coal black. It takes work but the final result is unbeatable.

[patriciarobinson]

How timely is this video! I just bought fusion mineral paint in coal black to paint a small table! Thanks for the helpful tips!

[KatelynDunnett]

I recently painted my dinning room chairs in fusion coal black. I would like more sheen and more of a smoother finish, which top coat would you recommend? My biggest concern if the chairs feeling smooth and not tacky.

[Valeriecc]

Love Fusion paint. First used it 3 years ago..been hooked since then. Great update on the finishing products.

[kaitlinemro]

Would you suggest I use ebony stain and top coat over the ash black? I'm undecided on whether to use the bees wax or the stain and top coat on my black night tables.

[FreeRangeCottage]

Great video. Black painted furniture can be so beautiful! I have a table that I’m going to paint black and I’ll use your tips! Very helpful! 🎩🎩🎩

[meganbell]

Thank you so much for this video, it was really helpful! Which product did you use on the painted board to give it a sheen? I am using Coal Black on a bureau at the moment and am not wanting to finish it with more of a gloss than that. Thanks.

[JAYFARRELL]

Hi hope you are well and thank you for your videos 😀 I’m using the black for this first time using a roller and in the light you can see the roller marks I’ve even tried misting the surface with water but just after any advice you may kindly have thank you

[patriciajohnson]

Do you have any ideas on other products i buy most at lowes

[iixsuga_kookie]

Thank you for the handy tutorial. If you had to pick just one product, what would you put on top of Fusion coal black? 😁.

[Alicia-igcv]

I love ash by fusion. It looks metallic like

[suewheeler]

Thanks for this really useful video. I am just about to finish a piece in Coal Black and was umming and aahing about whether to add a finish. Someone I asked said you don't have to (which you don't) but then I get what you mean about creating a better and slightly sheeny finish. I have SFO in natural - is this okay to use? Or would you suggest a darker shade if you're using this? I also have a black wax. Would you also use that? Thanks for your help. Cheers, Sue (in Sydney)

[coastchickheatherjordan]

I have struggled with black but sometimes it goes purple. Thank you.