The only thing I've used automotive paint on was vintage metal dental cabinets and a vintage metal porch glider, never used it on wood though. Even without the lacquer it is very shiny!

Zipdee - your furniture looks really nice. Did you do it yourself or send it out. It does look shiny but that seems appropriate for metal.

My parents took their house shutters to the local body shop to be sprayed. And I know the guy would paint anything I took to him.

Automotive paint is the most expensive paint you can buy. Why would you use that on wood, unless you WANT a shine. I'm sure your auto body shop would use whatever paint you wanted them to use and it wouldn't need to be car paint.

Gigi .. my husband painted them for me. He dapples in old car restoration and has taught himself how to paint. The paint is super toxic, so we bought him all of the saftey gear needed. For stuff like this, he uses thick plastic to set himself up a little paint booth in the cottage we have outback.

Like Cindyloo said, auto paint is fairly expensive. We used a cheaper grade enamel car paint on these pieces. Not something you'd want on your car, but for this purpose it works fine.

I bet if you contacted local house painters in your area, they might be able to direct you to someone with a spray gun that would take on your work. Around here building is slow, some work is better than no work. That way you could use latex paint in whatever sheen you want.

I took my double entry front doors to EconoPaint Auto Body Shop. They used a "deglosser" to cut the shine. They painted one side hunter and the inside cream. They did a great job and IIRC it was about $115. Not that this picture will show detail but you can get the idea in this picture.

I've never used it on furniture but, like Mustangs, had a new exterior door painted by a body shop once. It was a metal security front door with a very realistic wood grain embossed on it. We bought it after burglars kicked in our wood front door. The place we bought it from suggested having it painted by an auto body shop. They said the color choices were endless and the finish would last for much longer, and it did. We had it painted a soft turquoise (the house was adobe and this is New Mexico) and the shop actually used something to keep it unshiny.

Oh and Zipdee, I still remember those dental cabs you painted. What an awesome redo they were!! I love them and am glad you showed us a photo of them once again.
Lynn

I have a bedroom suite being painted in automotive paint right now. Actually, they may deliver it today.

I wanted the furniture pearlized, so my cabinet maker did it in auto paint.

Our auto body shop recently painted a vintage refrigerator for us.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Zipdee, Cindyloo, Lynn and Emagineer : I had not thought about using underemployed painters or using other types of paint - something less shiny but providing a hard finish for a table that is well used.

Mustangs - I need to explore price. There may be a regional differences or maybe it's just the price for prepping the furniture but your cost seemed a lot more reasonable.

WhiteRiverSooner - please post a picture of your furniture. I really like the energy and imagination of the people here

Gigi, the furniture did not come today afterall. The cabinet builder said he wanted to give the furniture one more day to dry, and it was raining today.

I will post a picture when it gets here.

The furniture came today. Here is a link to my thread about the furniture and a picture of it finished.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bedroom furniture