We love old chippy paint -- old paint that only time and pressure creates.  We rarely paint anything and wouldn't dream of taking a piece of sandpaper to something that we toiled over with a paint brush.  

Yesterday, we were chatting about painted furniture with a well-respected and very successful vintage-style shopkeeper.  Here is her take on the painted furniture in her antique store:

Chalk paint.  It's probably here to stay for a while though she can't stand the "feel" of it.  "It feels like icky old silicone."  Her words, not ours.

Good bones.  Painted wood furniture from the 1930s-40s flies out of her shop.  More contemporary pieces (1970s) sit and collect dust.  She thinks good bones begins with style . . . sweeps, curves, texture.  The bones make a piece of furniture desirable, not the paint. 

Honest paint.  Old chippy, peeling paint is honest, sought after and worth more than recently painted furniture with sanded edges and faux aging.

Color matters.  Too sunny the yellow, too Victoria Secret the pink, too lime the green make painted furniture potentially saleproof.   Her customers struggle with bright hues. 

Interesting shopkeeper's experience with painted furniture.  What's your take on vintage painted furniture?