I painted a dresser with a base coat of Zinser and then 4 thin layer of Valspar semi gloss white. It's cured over two weeks now and it still chips so easily that it's clear that this is going to be a constant pain in my rear to keep it looking nice in a kid's room. I went to the local box home improvement store and asked their paint "expert" there what poly coat to use and how to get a smooth, hard finish on it and it became abundantly clear he knew even less than me.
We're getting ready to paint her newly built loft bed but I don't want to deal with the same issue. How does one get the hard paint finish that you find on furniture that you buy?
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Of the bed or the dresser? The bed is from these plans but I don't have pictures yet http://ana-white.com/2010/05/furniture-plans-loft-bed.html
I love painting old furniture as well. Not only because I can customize it the way I want, but also because it puts your imagination at work. I recently bought some items from Broyhill Attic Heirlooms collection and I am trying to integrate them with my old cupboard painted by me and I have to say the result will be amazing. Put your imagination at work for the house of your dreams.
I recently did my old bed. I painted it and fixed some chopped material by putting some old wood instead. In the mean time I've found a really good site from where I got the inspiration: http://www.decorplanet.com/. My next project will be to redecorate the bathroom. I will be back with news. :0
On future projects you should be sure to lightly sand and clean your piece prior to priming to make sure the primer has a good bite on the wood. On heavily used pieces such as kids furniture or cabinets, besides using the best appropriate paint you might also want to consider a finish coat of polyurethane to further protect the surface. Good luck.
