How to Paint on Raw Wood

There are so many cute wood pieces at thrift stores and craft stores. Here’s how you paint raw wood the right way to transform these adorable little treasures into beautiful home accents.

I keep acquiring these unfinished craft wood projects whenever I hit the thrift store. I’ve accumulated trays, plates, boxes, and this cute little birdhouse lamp that I picked up for a few dollars at my local thrift store.

It’s adorable! I knew when I found it that it would make a cute piece in my booth for spring.

That was four years ago. Yep, it’s been sitting in my inventory unfinished for four years. No, I’m not proud of that fact.

That’s why I decided to do the 100 projects in 100 Days challenge, so I could finish pieces like this and get them priced and on the shelf! I feel like for as long as this has been sitting on my self that I’ve lost money.

I’m not going to feel guilty about that though. This year is all about Kindness and Grace towards myself. Those are my words for 2021 so I’m going to get this little guy finished and forget about the guilt.

How to Paint Raw Wood

Sounds like the easiest thing in the world right? Slap a coat of paint on it and move on with your life.

Hang on a second. You don’t want to jump in with both feet. Trust me on this one because that’s what I normally do and I want you to learn from my mistakes..

Do I Need to Prime Unfinished Wood Before Painting?

Ideally yes, you should prime the wood before painting. Using a primer will ensure that anything like knot holes or dark, uneven colors in the wood don’t show through your paint.

A good primer will also prevent your paint from soaking into the wood so you don’t have to use multiple coats of paint for the coverage you want.

Since I wanted a nice even coat of white, I chose Zinsser B-I-N which is a shellac based primer with high stain blocking ability.

You can use any quality primer that you like. I know a lot of people can’t use a shellac based primer because of the odor and breathing issues.

Lucky for me this primer only needed one coat to do the trick but if you’re using a water based primer on raw wood you might need more than one coat under a light colored paint.

What Kind of Paint Do You Use on Unfinished Wood?

Any paint will work on unfinished wood. You can use acrylic paint, chalk paint, oil based paints, pretty much anything goes. For my projects I had a little bit of white latex paint left over from another project so that’ what I chose to use.

I actually picked up this gallon from the oops paint rack for $9 and I’ve completed quite a few projects with it. I am definitely getting my money’s worth! It’s not fancy but it will do the trick.

Thanks to the primer coat I only needed one coat to get a nice even finish on my little lamp.

Then it’s just a waiting game. Wait for the project to dry and check to see if there are any uneven areas.

Lucky for me I there were no uneven spots for me to go over again when it was dry.

Once I put the lampshade on it really came together! She’s getting a price tag an going into the shop to be sold. It’s such a relief to knock another project off the list.

If you want to follow along on my 100 project 100 Days Challenge don’t forget to sign up for my email list! I will be sending up updates as the month progress.

If you’ve made it this far in the post do me a favor and save this post to Pinterest using the pin-able image below. I would be so grateful if you did!

What unfinished wood project will you tackle? Comment below and let me know!

Many blessings to you!

~S