Go Right Ahead and Paint That Laminate
April 27, 2010
We’ve owned this laminate and particle board media center for about fifteen years. It was purchased in the leaner years from a discount furniture store. Back in the 90s, we used it in our family room to store all of our media equipment, but then we eventually moved it to the kids’ play space. For the longest time (like most moms) I was just grateful for the storage it brought me and I didn’t care what color it was.
Then all of a sudden I just couldn’t take it anymore. I was staring at the faux maple laminate last week and I decided the day had come. It was time to paint it! It’s not that I don’t like blonde wood, I just don’t like faux blonde wood. It’s the fakeness that bothers me.
So it was time to rid my world of the maple tone and give it a fresh coat of white paint. This is a relatively sturdy piece, so rather than go out and buy a new system, or build one myself, I determined the best way to save it was to simply paint it. The best part of all is, I changed the look of this piece in 48 hours!
Here’s the Before:
Here’s the After:
Here’s how I painted my laminate storage center.
Make sure you invest in the right primer. This is absolutely key. You absolutely must prime your laminate surface with a primer designed to adhere to glossy surfaces. No ordinary primer will do. There are several options out there, my best piece of advice is to read the back of the can. Zinsser happens to be my primer of choice. I’ve worked with others and I’ve been disappointed, so I always return to this product.
Oil based Zinsser grips like glue in my opinion, and without sanding. You can use the water based version by Zinsser in the blue can, but you really need to sand your surface beforehand, and you also must wait for the water based version to fully cure, which is a recommended 7 days. Zinsser’s oil based primer dries in two hours, so I was able to apply two coats of primer in one day.
Roll your primer on your piece of furniture, then follow up with a brush in all the crevices. This primer dries really fast, but if you want a longer time to work with your primer and minimize brush strokes, use an additive called Penetrol that I’ve talked about here and here.
Many people shy away from oil based products because they require paint thinner or mineral spirits to clean up. However, if you use a cheap roller and cheap brush (my combo costs less than $2 dollars), you can toss them out when you’re done and not have to worry about cleaning your brush or roller with mineral spirits. But it’s good to have some on hand anyway just to get any paint off your hands !
Sand your primed piece with medium grade sanding pad to remove any drips, buildup or brush marks. Follow up with two coats of your paint color of choice. Use a better quality brush to minimize your brush strokes. You can go right over oil based primer with latex paint.
While I was at it, I even painted these inexpensive mini cabinets to hold the kids movies and other toys. I primed them with the same Zinsser oil based product, then gave them two coats of the new wall color, which is some leftover BM ‘Camouflage’ mixed in with some of the spring green from these chairs.
Yes, my kids watch movies on a VCR – they’re cheap ! $1 dollar each at the local Goodwill, can’t beat that !
And for those of you who are wondering, yes the giant map is still there, just on the opposite wall !
I am loving our ‘new’ storage system !!
Here’s a glimpse of the wall from last year’s post about the map room:
Last year:
Today:
Various bins and baskets from Target, Michaels and Pottery Barn. I made the pillow cover with some Annie Selke fabric.
So if you’ve got a laminate piece hanging around your house that you want to freshen, go ahead and paint it! Got laminate countertops ? Check out this post on Our Suburban Cottage ! Want to use water based primer instead ? Visit Lindsay and see how she transformed her laminate armoire.
I’m adding this to Kimba’s DIY Day over at A Soft Place to Land, hop on over and check out all the great DIY links !
Oh yes you can paint that laminate ! Yeehaw !
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Tags: painting laminate
awesome paint project. do you wish you would have painted the pieces sooner???
Kate-the cabinet looks fab! Have you ever painted any of that “pseudo” wood trim that’s not quite MDF and not quite real wood but more of a strand wood? I have it all around my baseboards and windows and it is so builder’s grade circa 2000 when my house was built. Any insight as to whether your laminate treatment might work on the baseboard and window trim? Thanks so much Kate for sharing all of your ideas and projects!
Oh it looks so refreshed. I love it when you can take a piece of existing furniture you have and give it a new look with the new pricetag. Great job my dear.
Great job. You are the painting master! I have to say that you love redoing furniture and you are great at it.
This is exactly the post I needed; thank you! I’ve got a laminate cabinet that I’m dying to spiff up. It’s very plain, so I’m thinking of adding some trim and painting it. I love your suggestion for the primer.
Thank you so much for the post—I’ve been ruminating for months over what to do about a laminate dresser. I really had no clue, and because I had no clue, i just kept putting it off, but now that you’ve made it so easy, I could tackle it this weekend! Thanks so much!
Thanks You for the post. I have got a laminate table that has gotten a lot of use and is needing an update. I think I am going to dive in and five it a try.
Aha! Where was this post a week ago? Eek! I needed this info. Now I’ve got an oops to fix. Thank you so much for this post!
thank you so much for this post…are there any tips for starting out with a darker piece? or should I just follow these instructions?
It looks lovely white!
Oh my goodness…this came just in time for me!! I was just about to tackle the daunting project of painting 3 HUGE (and ugly) laminate bookshelves we inherited from my in-laws. I was heading to Home Depot for some primer and I’m so glad I have your recommendation first! I had no idea how to do this and I just found the Bible of painting furntiure on your site. haha! Thank you so much for posting!
Very fresh, Kate! I love it against the wall color.
LOVE the new look, especially against the wall color. What is the green on the walls? Thanks.
Of course that looks amazing! What a transformation.
Oh no! Another thing on my extremely long to-do list (I haven’t even gotten to my piano yet) are laminate bookshelves and entertainment center. The color went well in my apartment, but it does not match my new house. I’ve bookmarked this post so I remember what primer you use! I was dreading having to sand laminate (in like… a year from now).
What a difference! Thanks for this, have been thinking about painting some Ikea desks in our office but wasn’t sure how it would turn out. Am feeling inspired after your post!
Hi,
first time commentator here. I’ve always wondered if i can paint these bookshelves …
http://www.jysk.hu/120/496/3658948/a/catalog
would appreciate your feedback. Thanks
Kriszti
Hungary
Hi there, that came up great! I actually started my furniture painting ‘career’ on laminate pieces so I could practice my technique and get it right…lucky for me my first piece came up better than I imagined, it turns out I have some natural talent for this! Here in New Zealand we have a fantastic product by Resene called Smooth Surface Sealer, and it is waterbased. It is magic stuff….I have even painted over mirrors in the back of china cabinets and you wouldn’t know once the paint top coats are done.
Great transformation! This is so great to know! And thanks for the primer tips.
Wow! I was wondering what I had done wrong with the bookshelf I just painted a week ago. I had primed it, then painted it and then, when it was too late, I realized you good scrap off the paint with a fingernail……..so disappointing! It looks great but I’m not sure for how long. Well, at least I now know what I did wrong and won’t make the same mistake again!
By the way…..your media center looks GREAT!
This is a great tip to pass on to as many people as possible. Many people have laminate! I am featuring this at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com
Your armoire came out beautifully! I’ve got a few pieces of laminate that I’ll be practicing on eventually now!
Have you seen the products that “claim” to provide coverage that’s sturdy on laminate counter tops? Am very curious what your take would be on painting those since they are usually high traffic areas like the kitchen and bath. I’m not quite ready to take that plunge yet.
Thanks, I’ve painted laminate before, but haven’t used a primer. I think this will make things a heck of a lot easier now.
I want to paint my laminate bookshelf. Will the paint scratch off when pulling books of the shelf? Oh, and what color did you use on your kitchen cabinets? Thanks
I have always shied away from painting laminate, but now I see I really need to give it a go. Your media cabinet looks fantastic! I’m always finding cheap laminate bookcases, but I never buy them. I have been a fool. Thanks for this post! You are awesome.
thank you for sharing!!! i have something laminate that i want to paint but i didn’t know if it would work. now i know it will!!
thank you for sharing!! i have something laminate i want to paint but didn’t know if it would work, now i know it will!
That is good to know! I have bookmarked this post for future project reference. I wish I had known about this process before I gave up my laminate dresser from childhood (since I had limited room during our last move and it was 1970′s hideous, heh). Thanks so much for sharing this info with your readers!
WOW! Thanks for giving me some hope with laminate! It is inspiring to see how much of a transformation that made. Thanks also for the tip on the oil based primer. I HATE to sand stuff! The hubs usually ends up doing that part so now if I tell him about the primer trick, he will love you too!
This is so awesome. I am going to paint my kitchen cabinets white soon and I will use your blog as a reference.
May I ask what color green is on the walls of this room? I love it!
Thank you for sharing how you did this. I didn’t think it was possible, but am so glad there is a way to do it.
Has the paint held up well so far?
They are beautiful. I have an older lingerie chest with formica on the top, it’s on my list of re-do’s so I’m hoping this same Zinser Primer will work on formica. Thanks for all of your suggestions and for being the one who tests it first !!!
Great info! I have a laminate dresser that I’ve always wanted to paint. Did you use oil or latex paint over the primer?
How do you know when to use a sealer on a piece of furniture? Did you put anything over your paint on this project? I am worried about paint scraping off of shelves.
Wonderful! Did you know that there’s a countertop paint which you can buy at any home improvement store, made especially for laminate? We just painted our kitchen countertops, and I LOVE THEM now!! We had painted our cabinets white a year ago, got white appliances, but our counters were still beige. Now they’re tan, and it looks fabulous
[...] Then I remembered I forgot to write about the wood window cornice I built for the room several months ago ~ you can catch a glimpse of it in this article about painting laminate furniture. [...]
Thanks for the post! I used you as the push and inspiration I needed to do this myself to a Billy bookcase! You can check it out here: http://www.justalittlebit.net/2010/08/05/the-twenty-dollar-facelift/
[...] in an hour. I pink puffy heart love love love this primer. Remember when I repainted that laminate media center ? Yep, I used this stuff for that makeover [...]
This is the single most useful tutorial I have found on the internet! We are painting out laminate kitchen cabinets and with your help, they have a chance to turn out great! I loveeeeeee your site, tackling a headboard next. Thanks so much for sharing all of your ideas!