How To Paint Over Laminate Furniture And Kitchen Cabinet Doors

Laminate furniture may be relatively cheap, but painting it over is still cheaper than buying new furniture. Painting a piece of furniture, instead of replacing it, adds to a sustainable lifestyle. With the right kind of primer, it can be done in way, that will keep your furniture good for years. This techniques is of course also suitable for laminate kitchen cabinet doors.

Laminate looks like wood, but its plastic. Acrylic paints, latex or regular oil based paints wont stick to it or - only for a short time. Shellac will. Shellac is a very tough, but non-toxic material. Its high on VOC during the job, but when dry, it's considered safe for childrens toys and furniture. Shellac is available as a clear sealer, and as a pigmented primer, so laminate can be glazed (and look as if its stained), and it can be painted over with hiding layers of paint. Mind, that shellac can only be painted over with latex or oil-based paint - not with acrylics or polyurethane. Latex is not a very strong paint, even if you get the better quality. Youd think its not suitable for painting furniture. However, once the shellac is covered with latex, you can give the latex a coat of polyurethane, and still have a strong paint coat on your furniture.

It may seem time-consuming or like a lot of work, all these paint layers. But the shellac is dry and ready to paint over, within the hour. Latex is a fast drier too. Within one weekend, you can complete the shellac- and latex layer and have your furniture piece looking like new. But, for the best results, Its best to let the latex paint harden out for a few days, and then to give it the polyurethane coating. And of course, youll have to be careful with your piece during these days. When the paint hasnt hardened out yet, itll be vulnerable to scrathing etc. If you want to be sure, its better not to use the piece (or put back the shelves and drawers) during the days its still hardening out.

Preparations are necessary, for getting good results. If your piece of furniture can be taken apart, its best to do so. If not, take out the shelves and drawers. Sanding has to be done meticulously, with a medium sanding paper that is new and sharp. All the shine has to be sanded away. After sanding, clean the piece with alcohol or ammonium (diluted with water). Also take away dust from the rest of the room - then it wont fall into your fresh paint. Open the windows, as shellac is high on VOC during the job.

Painting shellac has to be done fast, as the paint can be dry to the touch within fifteen minutes (and ready to paint over within an hour). For priming, it's best to use rollers, and have a few extra at hand - they'll be very hard to clean. When youre doing big surfaces (like a bedroom closet), make sure the edges on the left dont dry while youre working your way to the right. Develop a system, where you get back to every edge on time, before the edge is dry. You might use some alcohol for that, or just work in thin patches from left to right, getting back to the left on time.

When you paint doors, like kitchen cabinet doors, you might use a few screw-eyes, screwed in the side of the door. Then you can hang every piece to be painted, and work the whole piece in one go (instead of first one side, drying, and then the other side). Have a horizontal stick, like one you use to hang your clothes on. With a bit of wire, the furniture slabs can be hung on clothes hangers, with the eyes you screwed in on the sides (do that on a side thats hidden when you put the furniture back together again). But on the other hand: shellac dries so fast, that you hardly have to wait. If you covered one side of every panel, your first panel will be almost dry and ready to turn over.

As for styling, the possibilities are numerous. Besides using stencils or other decorative painting techniques, latex paint is great for doing some faux marbling techniques. A stain look can be kept, when you use a clear shellac sealer, and glaze the laminate with transparent colored latex. If the laminate already has a wood-grain pattern, it will become a good imitation of stained wood. Natural results depend on doing thin, neat layers with a roller - no brushstrokes or rolling patterns. You achieve that by doing thin layrs, a few if you need to. That's better than doing only one that's too thick.