“It’s nice to have the right tool for the job.” We’ve said those words so frequently they’ve almost become a Brushworks’ proverb. This saying gets thrown around whenever our favorite power tool makes short work of the problem at hand. But sometimes, the right tool just doesn’t exist.

In this project, we painted two benches for our client’s living room. We use an airless paint sprayer to create a paint job devoid of brushstrokes, giving the piece a factory-like finish. To achieve this fresh-off-the-assembly-line look, we needed to paint all sides of the furniture in one coat.

How We Made the Spray Booth

This wasn’t the first time we’ve made our own tools. In fact, this design was actually an addition to our portable cutting table — an 8’ x 4’ wooden frame with a replaceable foam top that is clamped to two sawhorses. We added four rotating arms to the table. When upright, they create a perfect frame for creating a plastic enclosure.

So we could paint all surfaces without touching them, we created a spray booth that utilizes a spinning platform to give us complete control of the spray angle. This fine-tuned control allows us to apply the perfect amount of paint. (Preventing drips that need to be fixed with a brush, leaving unwanted brushstrokes.)

Finishing the Furniture

For easy cleanup, we taped a sheet of paper on the top of the table. Then, we added a .31 mm plastic to three walls and the ceiling, leaving one wall open to access the furniture. This enclosure traps overspray, letting it settle onto the paper and plastic instead of flying around the room.

We lay the rotating platform in the center of the spray booth, placed the furniture on the platform, loaded the sprayer, and got to work. Using our new technique, we efficiently applied a coat of primer and two coats of paint without any drips or brushstrokes, giving our clients the perfect finish they deserve!