Lacquered Furniture FAQ – Top 10

Have you got questions about our lacquered furniture? Well, I’ve got answers! Today, I wanted to address the top 10 most frequently asked questions we get from clients interested in buying or refinishing a piece. 

Let’s get started!

1. What Type of Paint Do You Use?

We exclusively use nitrocellulose pre-catalyzed lacquer to paint our furniture. This type of paint creates a strong, durable, glossy finish every time. Lacquer is a professional-grade product, used almost exclusively by large and small cabinet shops around the country.

You may find while researching that any or every gloss paint is referred to as ‘lacquer,’ but that is not necessarily the case. Just like the word tissue is used interchangeably for Kleenex and vice versa, the work lacquer is used for any and all types of paint that produce a glossy finish. Only genuine lacquer, such as the one we use, will produce a hard, strong, glossy finish that will endure time.

2. What Type of Topcoat Do You Use?

Nitrocellulose pre-catalyzed lacquer is a finished product on its own, meaning it does not require an additional topcoat. Therefore, we do not use any top coat on our furniture pieces. We use a spray gun to apply the nitrocellulose pre-catalyzed lacquer, which comes out glossy right out of the nozzle.

3. How Do You Get Your Finish to Look So Smooth?

We are professional furniture painters, and we have been painting furniture every single day, day in and day out, since 2016! 

Our ‘secret’ is time spent prepping. We spend several hours sanding, priming, filling, and re-sanding every piece of furniture. Take the time to make it look smooth and glossy. We also sand every piece of furniture in between each coat of paint. 

Although expensive, we also use professional equipment that has been an indispensable investment. Professional spray guns and a spray booth help us obtain the glossy finish we are known for. 

4. What Colors Can You Paint Furniture?

We can match any color from any manufacturer. The one thing we need is to see a physical chip of the color in person. We can match the color exactly with a sample in our hands.

We are unable to match pictures on phones or any other screens. It is very important that we have a physical sample. With a physical fragment, I am able to match fabric, wallpaper, etc.

5. Is There A Comparable Low VOC Product?

Unfortunately, there is nothing available in the market currently that is low VOC and high gloss. Sadly, the high gloss, low VOC paint that is currently available does not stand the test of time. It does not meet our standards for durability, and we cannot sell a product that I cannot stand behind.

When low-VOC products start to mirror the durability and robustness of conventional lacquer, we will be able to offer a low-VOC option. For now, we will continue prioritizing quality and using nitrocellulose pre-catalyzed lacquer for all of our furniture pieces.

6. Where Do You Find Your Hardware?

This is no easy feat. I search the internet high and low to find unique and stunning hardware pieces for our furniture. This is an almost daily practice, which should tell you how committed I am to finding rare and gorgeous designs.

In other words, there is no specific website or store where I shop to get the hardware that we use for our furniture.

As well as the pulls, knobs, and backplates I have scoured the internet for, we have also recently started making our own hardware that we now use on our pieces.

7. Do You Ship? How Much To Ship?

Yes! We ship hundreds of pieces of furniture every single month all over the country. We have seriously shipped everywhere.

We are located in St. Louis, Missouri, so the cost will depend on the mileage from our shop to your front door. Shipping prices will depend on the distance and the size of the item.

Shipping costs are laid out on our website for every single item. That way, you can estimate how much it will cost to ship to your particular city and state.

Do You Sell Dining Tables?

Dining tables (and coffee tables) are the most impractical surfaces for lacquer. Detailed blog post here. Lacquer is a beautiful and durable finish, but it is no match for utensils, craft scissors, small children, toy trucks, and so on.

Imagine your 5-year-old accidentally drops a fork on the dining table. Yes, it will chip the table, and you will be very sad. Since the chances of long-term dissatisfaction from the purchase of a lacquered dining table are very high, I refuse to sell them.

There are many other ways you can incorporate lacquered furniture in a dining room around a stained table. Here is a blog post about it that can help you. We will be offering stained dining tables down the road.

Why Are Your Products So Expensive?

We are a small business, and although our prices and volume may give you the impression of a multi-7-figure operation, I’m here to dispel that illusion.

Running a company compliant with American laws is extremely expensive, believe it or not.

We proudly pay our employees living wages, offer workman’s comp, and provide our employees with time off. These details cost a small business like ours a significant amount of money.

In addition, we make sure that we dispose of the chemicals we use responsibly, environmentally friendly, and compliantly.

The harsh reality is that foreign-made goods are so inexpensive due to laws to protect employees and operate in an environmentally friendly manner that often do not exist in these countries.

Employees could be made to work 16 or 18-hour days with few, if any, days off per month. Dumping toxic chemicals in local water sources is not regulated, causing environmental harm.

Yes, things are seemingly cheap in the price you pay for the product, but the truth is someone somewhere else is paying the rest.

To reiterate, our prices are high because we do right by our employees and follow all of the laws required of small furniture refinishing businesses in the United States.

Sucheta, Where Are You From?

This is more of a personal question, but I do get asked this quite a bit, so I thought I would answer it here.

I am from India, born and raised. At the age of 21, I immigrated to the United States and have been here ever since.

I hope this top 10 FAQ was helpful. If there is a topic you would like to know more about, check out our other blog posts for more in-depth explanations, or visit our YouTube Channel if you would prefer the information in video form.