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If you’re looking to freshen up your furniture, Black Dog Salvage has something that’ll fit your needs as well as budget. Their newest line of furniture paint will brighten up any room in the house!
Their color palette includes 15 colors (14 shown above) v, with a true white and true black to create tints and shades of each color. Mike Whiteside, his wife Susie, Karen Curtis and Susan Hudson gathered one evening to decide on names. They used references to what they at Black Dog fondly call “Mike-isms” (things Mike says on their television show “Salvage Dawgs”).
Their red hue, called “I Need a Bandage,” is because Mike is constantly getting hurt. “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark,” purple, is named for the bumps and bruises the crew endures on a job.
Other paint names reference more salvage terms, Roanoke, and the Southwest Virginia area. Made in the US by a small, family-owned paint company in Pittsburgh, it’s made in small batches.
“Our paint is produced along the same lines as the craft beer industry,” explains Susan Hudson, Black Dog Salvage’s resident furniture paint expert. “They’re made one batch at a time with the focus centered on quality.”
Because the Black Dog Salvage team works with many materials, as well as designs that incorporate a combination of metal, glass and wood, they needed paint that would adhere to them all. They tried everything on the market and while some would work well on wood, they didn’t have the same effect on glass or plastic (or vice versa).
Mike and Robert eventually decided to team with Woodcraft to work on developing furniture paint that met their unique needs. Since the team had specific requirements, Hudson was in near daily contact with chemists as they developed samples. Thirteen samples and two years later, they had the right formula.
A few unique characteristics of their new line:
Low VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds): Because many people are chemically sensitive (some get headaches, have irritated skin, etc.), it became a major priority to have a line that wouldn’t harm the users. The BDS line can be used around children and pets and is safe to use indoors.
Water-based: the paint is an acrylic/latex base that can be cleaned up with soap and water, or used with a sprayer once thinned.
Self-leveling: users will have a beautiful, velvety, ultra matte finish that won’t show brush marks on your finished pieces.
High adherence rate: BDS has personally tested their paint on every material they use, including metal and glass, as well as over shellac, lacquer, varnish and other painted surfaces.
Little to no prep: BDS understands limits, as they don’t have time to strip or prime every piece due to tight filming schedules. Simply clean your piece before painting with a trisodium phosphate found at any hardware store. Have chipped paint areas or scratches? Lightly sand and then start painting; most surfaces are done with just one coat.
Mixable palette: with boldly pigmented colors (including true white and true black), you can create tints and shades of each color to find your own favorite. As BDS does many custom pieces, it may require matching specific colors to a customer’s home. The ability to easily customize those shades sets them apart from others.
Coverage: a quart covers 150+ square feet, while the 16.9 ounce pint covers 80+ square feet.
Fun, bright colors are ready to make a splash for your next home project. Hudson explains that this paint is for everyone, whether you’re a DIY enthusiast, hobbyist, artist, or simply want to paint furniture, accessories and other creative projects. Multiple faux finish techniques can be successfully achieved with the paint (two-color dry distress, two-color wet distress, and dry brushing to name a few).
While BDS paint is an interior paint, it will need to be sealed with a top coat (recommended: Guard Dog Furniture Paint Protector, an interior, floor grade, water-based, polyurethane that comes in both a matte and satin finish). Their team is currently testing an exterior top coat to ensure paint can also be applied to exterior lawn and patio furniture, as well as exterior doors.
Response so far has been “overwhelmingly positive” according to Hudson. “People are thrilled that the paint we use in the shop is now available to the public. We developed the paint to meet our needs but hope it inspires more DIY enthusiasts to re-purpose and up-cycle.”
BDS will offer “Color Recipes” on their website, with colors developed in their paint studio. They encourage customers to share their “recipes” and hope as they add new colors each year, that a few of those might come from the customer colors.
Black Dog Salvage offers a hands-on opportunity to work with the paint with their upcoming classes. For more information on the classes or the paint in general, call their store for dates and times or check out their website at blackdogsalvage.com.