Easy step by step tutorial of how to paint laminated furniture in no time!
Can I paint laminated plywood?
Yes you can my dear!
I am sure you have seen a bunch of laminated furniture in your Thrift Stores.
You may have loved the clean lines of it or the pretty shape, but you have been turned off by the ugly plastic brown look of it.
I am going to show today how you can give a fake wood a nice strong finish in just a few steps.
FIRST
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to prepare the surface you are going to paint.
The fact of the matter is that a clean surface is the most important step for a clean finish.
Pull out your drawers and hardware. Get your soap, warm water, a good sponge and clean away!
SECOND
When your surface is thoroughly clean and dry it is time to prime.
I like to use a small sponge roller and a soft small brush for this type of surface.
After your entire piece of furniture is primed LET IT DRY perfectly.
The trick of priming is time, it needs to cure in order to hold to the surface you are working on.
Read the directions, follow the directions, be patient and wait.
THIRD
After your primer has cured it is time to paint.
Do as many coats as you feel are needed giving each coat enough time to dry.
If you start a new coat of paint before the previous one was dry
you may take away some of that fresh paint out making your furniture look sad.
You want your new piece to look pretty!
Don’t be afraid to use bright colorful accent pieces in your home.
My friend Dave chose a true orange as one of the accent colors for his man cave.
How fun is this? It looks great even at night!
Don’t you love it?
So if you have some old laminated plywood that needs help don’t be afraid to give it some love.
Remember, clean it, prime it and paint it.
If you feel adventurous and need some furniture makeover ideas make sure to visit
my decorate with FURNITURE on Pinterest.
Have fun!
Happy Tuesday!
Besos
Desirée
If you are new to my blog I want to welcome you!
I hope you stay in touch and Subscribe to The 36th Avenue via Readers.
This is such great advice!! I’ve just done my bedside table with spray paint. This is a great, thanks for sharing 🙂
What primer would you recommend? Also, I would like to paint my kitchen cabinets (which happen to be a very sad brown laminated plywood). Would you still suggest saten finish?
What paint do you recommend?
I love Olimpic One. I would choose a saten finished for it.
Hi Desiree,
I am from Germany and I love your blog. I find him immediately after the first stored in my bookmarks and see now over regularly. Soon I will brighten our dark times plywood furniture. Thanks for the many many great inspiring DIY’s.
Greetings from Germany
Melissa
Aww.. thank you Melissa! Sending you hugs and kisses all the way from here.
Happy New Year!
Love it, pinned it 🙂
Hello! I love your blog, and I just wanted you to know that I just finished painting the EXACT SAME desk. And I think that I even had the exact same issue with the trim. (FYI- you can hardly notice it, but I looked for it). I decided to keep the long plaque thingy on there – but now am second guessing it based on your desk. http://nate-and-megs.blogspot.com/2012/10/desk-after.html
I am SO pinning this! I have totally passed over laminate pieces with gorgeous lines, because I was afraid that they wouldn’t take to being painted well 🙁
One question: how did you fill in the deep scratches that most laminated furniture ends up with (I can see quite a few in your “before” pic)? Does the primer take care of that?
Thanks again for the reassurance that not all that is laminate is junk!
Kathryn,
You can use a wood filler to take care of that. Take a look of this table makeover that had some deep scratches before.
http://www.the36thavenue.com/2012/08/diy-nightstand-makeover.html
I hope this helps!
Thanks Desiree! Great tutorial and love love love the desk and orange color – how fun and colorful for a drab piece of furniture. I love your blog and always learn something new. Thanks for sharing so much with us!!
Great upcycle! Thanks for the tips. I’d love for you to link up this (and any other ideas you’d like to share) at “One Creative Weekend” on OneCreativeMommy.com.
awesome 🙂 I can’t wait til the weather cools so I can paint agian. i have a few uglies that need to be redone. And i love the orange