You can find painted pieces of furniture in styles that range from formal to whimsical, for prices from a few hundred to thousands of dollars. In a dominated by wood furniture, one painted piece can shift the focal point and express your personal aesthetic in dramatic fashion.
History
According to Annie Sloan, author of Simple Painted Furniture, the first examples of the art came to Europe from Asia, where artists had been creating lacquered furniture for centuries. Dutch merchants first brought this art form back to Europe, and lacquered furniture became an instant sensation. To cash in on the trend, the region's furniture-makers started experimenting and eventually created a style of painted furniture they dubbed chinoiserie.
The Swedes, Swiss and Bavarians also developed styles of painted furniture, and immigrants to America brought those traditions with them. The Pennsylvania Dutch style of become one of the most immediately recognizable in the world. Latin American cultures also possess a long history of producing furniture painted in vivid colors.
Formal needs
If you'd like to shake your decor up by adding painted furniture to your wood dining room suite, think about your existing look. If yours is a very formal dining room suite, and you want to stick with that approach, look for painted pieces that have a similar shape or profile as your existing furniture and a stylized decorative theme. Asian pieces, particularly Chinese lacquerwork, may fill the need --- the decoration on them tends to be regular and precise.
Casual needs
Painted pieces can also create a more casual, welcoming air. The simplest, and most cautious, change you can make is trading your matching dining room chairs for painted ones.
Consider surrounding your dining room table with painted chairs that will contrast--- black painted Windsor-style chairs with a light pine table, or green-painted chairs with an oak table.
If you want to make a bolder statement, think about adding painted pieces with Scandinavian-style motifs, which tend to be pastel, or a boldly painted piece from Mexico.
Contrast
Painted furniture will instantly add contrast and interest to your dining room. One approach is to bring a piece of painted furniture into the room to create a different, more interesting, focal point. If you are bored with the matching look of your dining room furniture, think about placing a painted curio cabinet, china hutch or sideboard in a corner or along a wall. Such painted items can be quite expensive, but they pack a visual punch that will prompt guests to notice.
A Cautionary Note
You can, with a little care, successfully mix painted furniture of almost any hue with wooden pieces, but it's best to avoid trying to match the colors exactly. Practically any other color approach will work, but you will lose much of the visual impact of the painted piece if its color is nearly the same as that of your wood furniture.
Where to Shop
You can buy painted furniture at any price point and with any level of decoration. Most mainstream furniture stores carry painted pieces, but you should also look for them in smaller, artisan furniture stores and at stores that import furniture from Asia as well as South and Central America.
Do It Yourself
Painting your own furniture is also an option. You can easily buy unfinished furniture or used pieces and paint them to suit your needs, keeping in mind the same strategies that apply toward purchased furniture.
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