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
Thank you thank you thank you. Guess what I’m doing this weekend!?
BEYOND FABULOUS! Ooooo do I have plans…hubby will not understand (lots of eye rolling) but the results will be killah!
Does anyone know if you can use a metallic paint with this process (to paint laminate furniture)? I am eager to try this out and would love to pain an old laminate table with a metallic (silver) paint. Would this still work? I am incredibly novice and think maybe I should just stick to normal paint but am not sure what other color would work. I’d really appreciate any tips. Thanks.
Just refinished a cheap Ikea dresser to look give it a more polished look. These directions were a huge help and worked perfectly. Thank you!
I was wondering how the finish is holding up, after sliding things across it often? Getting ready to do some bookcases for my office, and I need to make sure it will be pretty durable.
Thanks for the great advice on here for painting laminate!
OMG, thank you so much for the how to. I just bought a large dresser type furniture and have seen a couple of blogs that inspired me but not very much details on the how to. I wrote my notes down and will hopefully start this weekend. Thanks again!
Okay question, once you have the rolled & brushed oil based primer on would you use spray paint for your color coats? I am really concerned about brush strokes but it is a rather large piece. Any suggestions or tips? Thanks!
THANK YOU. I got a great round kitchen table off Craig’s List for $50 but did not realize that the top was laminate. Ugh! Gonna paint that baby!!
We had our home painted by professional painters three years ago, and when I asked them about some of our ugly but very functional laminate furniture, they told me to paint it. I’ve been a skeptical about the possible outcome. After seeing your photos, I’m definitely encouraged! It’s going to take work and patience, but I just don’t see the need to go out an buy more furniture. Thank you for taking time to share these photos and details.
The media center looks awesome, what a difference! Thanks for doing that tutorial.
I bookmarked your painting tips some time ago. Thank you for the primer tips.
Oh how I wish I would have learned this a year ago! I painted a laminate cubby which was mostly successful, but I cannot tell you how many coats of paint it took. And then I never finished the inside “ceilings” of the cubbies because I was just exhausted. This post gives me new encouragement to finish that cubby and also paint these two hideous discount book shelves I have. Thanks so much!
We painted an old laminate bookcase this weekend. We didn’t use any primer since we didn’t know we were suppose to! It turned out great.
OMG! You dont KNOW…how valuable this info is for me right now!!! I have UGLY furniture that I bought about 7 years ago..wasnt ugly then! hahahaha still its the same type of furniture. I will be doing this on the weekend! ~*~ Priscilla!
Your media center looks great! I’m actually wanting to do the same to mine but i would like to use metallic paints to give it that old hollywood mirrored effect. Would anyone have any tips on how to go about doing that?
I am SO glad I found your blog! It is incredibly inspirational to me. I am about to embark on my first laminate painting job, and you’ve given me great hope that it can be a success. Consider yourself bookmarked.
Sara
A giant big THANK YOU and kindest regards from Germany! This is so helpful – and you do great work!
This inspired me to paint my entertainment center. HOWEVER, in the lovely state of Ohio, there was no oil based Zinser to be found – so I got the latex version. I’m proud of myself for being so patient (OMW, it’s so hard!!), but it’s been 4 days, and I can scratch it off still. Boo on you Ohio and your stinkin ban on oil based lovliness. Hopefully a miracle happens in the next 3 days. :)
I’m baaaaa-aaaaaack! This time to say that my laminate experiment was a success! Thank you for the inspiration, and for giving me the confidence to try this daunting project. You can see my results here, if you like! http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=387698.0
Literally taking notes right now on how to paint laminate! Thank you!
Hey! Thanks for this tutorial. I was just wondering about peeling the laminate before you paint. Did you peel it all off first? Or paint over it? Did it peel up anywhere after it’s been painted and used?
Can’t wait to start this project tonight!!
After reading your post, I’m thinking that I could actually paint my cabinets in the kitchen!!
I love the look of white cabinets and think it would really brighten up my kitchen.
I did have a question… when painting the piece after priming, do you use the roller or just a brush? If you use the brush, what size brush did you use? And how do you prevent brush strokes?
Between sanding and painting, do you have to wash the dust off?
[...] painting a laminate piece of furniture is not hard. I found a great tutorial on Centsational Girl’s website. Her instructions are for painting a piece with a roller and brush, but I was feeling [...]
Thanks for this article! It isnpired me to try to paint my nasty bookcase of dark brown wood laminate/over particleboard. I wiped it down but did not sand it as it was so old anyway. I bought some lime green spray paint (Valspar for PLASTICS) and it worked great. Took 3 cans and lots of coats but you only have to wait 5-10 minutes between coats. It looks like I did it with a roller for $15.
thank you thank you thank you thank you!!! I have been wondering for YEARS if I could do this, but never really bothered to research! Thank you so much for this tutorial. Now for some paint shopping!!
We wanted to paint with acrylic paint hand prints on a bench that is pressed board/finished laminate.
Is that possible? we do not want to sand or prime it…will the paint stick?
Thank you so much for your help….I have googled it so much but with no luck
Hi Maria, unfortunately most acrylic paints will not stay permanent without a primer between the laminate and the acrylic paint. It might “stick” at first, but it will easily scratch off. To make it permanent, use a layer of primer designed for laminates or glossy surfaces.
Kate
I have been planning on painting my already white laminate kitchen cabinets for a while. My only concern is if they peel off or scratch off with frequent use? That would be worse that just leaving them like they are. I have also used that Zinsser product to paint all the workwork in my previous house, as they had spray laquered it after painting it and it worked well. I just don’t want to end up with a scuffed mess. Has anyone put theres to heavy use yet?
Thank you thank you thank you!
Hi Patty, I used Zinsser Cover Stain (with Penetrol additive) to paint my kitchen island, no scuffs to date and it’s been two years. The island was painted wood, not laminate, but I’ve used the Zinsser CS on several laminate projects (entertainment center, credenza, shelving) and have been very pleased with the way it holds up. I prefer it to any other bonding primer for laminate or glossy surfaces. Good luck with your kitchen painting project!
Kate
[...] we primed them. The best option for painting laminate is to start with an oil based primer. Kate at Centsational Girl posted details about how to successfully do this. We may or may not have used oil based primer. Ok, we didn’t and so far so good. The [...]
I painted my laminated (fake wood) paneling in my family room and it looks so great! I also used the Zinsser oil-based primer….it has lasted for years (we did it about ten years ago)! it’s a great product to use…highly recommend it!
Fantastic Deb, thank you for sharing!
Kate