A Trend Reversal

Oh, the ubiquitous painted Furniture.  For the past few years, DIY painted furniture has been everywhere.  It makes perfect sense: new casegoods are expensive, vintage ones are often dingy, and painting them is much easier than stripping, sanding, staining and generally restoring the wood to full glory.

In Apartment Therapy's round up of best makeovers of the year, many of them were actually make-unders, where wood pieces were stripped of all embellishments and returned to their natural state.  Like this one.

Also this and this.

I have to admit, I think this is going in the right direction.

It has been interesting to watch all that trendy painted furniture turn up on craigslist.  Have you noticed?  Some people clearly understand that a bad paint job devalues a piece of furniture, but others are actually charging up for the time and materials, even using the makeover as a selling point.  "Annie Sloan Chalk Paint" now shows up in search terms and headlines.

While I think there is still (and always will be) a place for some painted furniture, I've been glad to see the natural warmth of wood return.

I'm curious: would you buy painted second hand furniture if the paint job was decent?  Or is that something you would only do yourself?