First experience using Benjamin Moore Advance

Painting with BM Advance

I’d really been wanting to use this paint and finally got the chance when my client picked out a Benjamin Moore color - revere pewter - for her dresser update. The Advance line is an alkyd paint. It’s a waterborne alkyd as opposed to oil based, so clean up and handling is much easier while still providing good, even, durable coverage. It’s specifically made for kitchen cabinets, but why not for furniture as well?! One great thing about it, you don’t need a topcoat, I repeat, you do. not. need. a. topcoat. This is awesome, because topcoat can be so tricky.

Now, I know that you might be thinking, “Hm, maybe I could add a topcoat to make it even more durable,” which I completely understand. We want our pieces to be indestructible, right? But this would be ill advised. From my understanding, the Advance paint is so durable because the process that allows it to cure is led by water evaporating out of the product, which it does over a period of time, so applying a topcoat can prevent that from happening. I’m sure the explanation is much more scientific than this, but I’m not going to get into it.

I used my Wagner sprayer (link below) to apply this paint. Generally I need to thin my paint so that it comes out of the sprayer nicely, too thick and it won’t spray, too thin and you will get runny paint drips and bad coverage. The sprayer comes with a tool that you can use to test the dilution to ensure that it will spray.

You can thin BM Advance paint just like you can with any other water based paint. Priming is still necessary, in my opinion, because it gives you an even starting point.

Go take a look at my post about adding detail with stencils to see the full explanation and transformation of this dresser!

I applied three coats, and sanded with a high grit sanding block to make it silky smooth. Final verdict

I really like how this paint handles and I plan to use it again in the future.

And that is that!

Link to product:

Wagner sprayer: https://amzn.to/3Gns5tW