At some point, you’ve probably wondered if you can/how to refinish laminate furniture. Yes, indeed, it can be done. In fact, it’s quite easy to do!
Along the way, I think most of us have picked up a cheap piece or two of laminate furniture. You know, the kind with the fake wood or the matte white finish. It usually lasts a few months or a couple of years. Then it gets dinged up and isn’t really repairable. Or the laminate comes loose and lifts up. Or, you just want to replace it with something prettier.
I, too, have had these pieces in my home. In fact, the microwave cart in my kitchen is a hand-me-down piece from my mother. It’s ugly but it has a lot of concealed storage space so I’ve kept it with the intention of painting it a prettier color some day.
RELATED POST: How To Refinish a Vintage Mirror
Instead of testing out how to paint laminate furniture on a piece I plan to keep, I practiced on this piece. It’s a standard brown microwave cart, which a friend gave to me. She had planned to haul it to the trash. It was in almost perfect shape and it seemed like a good idea to give it a try.
This was a win-win. She was able to have me haul it away, and I had a practice piece.
I researched several different methods of refinishing laminate furniture and settled on a method that combined spray painting and rolling paint.
Here’s how I did it.
SUPPLIES YOU WILL NEED TO REFINISH LAMINATE FURNITURE:
- Paint roller cover
- Paint roller handle
- Plastic paint tray to pick up paint on the roller
- Kilz Primer (I used the Original formula)
- Latex paint in your color choice
- Fabric and to cover the back board (or you can remove your backer if you prefer an open shelf)
- Elmers Craft Bond adhesive spray in an aerosol can (to attach the fabric)
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STEP ONE: PREP & PRIME
Before you can start painting, you must clean any debris or oil away from the piece so that the paint will stick. I also used pliers to pull the staples out when I removed the backboard piece that’s behind the top shelf. It was surprisingly in perfect condition. I used that as an opportunity to add a little splash of teal. I also taped off the casters. You can remove them, but meh.
What is the best paint for laminate furniture?
I used Krylon Fusion White Spray Paint Primer. The Krylon Fusion line is safe for plastics, which is what you need for painting laminate furniture. It took two coats to cover this, which was about a can and a half of primer. This brand is my go-to. It is literally the only one I found to work reliably and consistently. You can pick it up at almost any hardware retailers, and you’ll find it competitively priced.
The cheaper brands of laminate furniture primer get a two thumbs-down from me!
Choosing your primer color
When you’re looking at primers, they usually come in white, gray, or black. I always choose white for pieces that I plan to paint white or bright colors. This choice will create a perfect blank canvas and make the colors appear brighter. I keep a black primer for projects that I’m painting darker and save gray primer for metallic finishes.
You can choose how you want, but this is a rule of thumb that I follow regardless of what type of project I’m painting.
STEP TWO: COVER THE BACKER BOARD WITH FABRIC
While my primer dried, I turned my attention to the backer board that I salvaged. On closer inspection, I saw it had several little cracks. It was still sturdy, so I decided to cover it up to save it. It gave stability to the cart. Once I removed it, the little cart was quite wobbly.
These backing pieces are often little more than cardboard. They don’t accept paint evenly. The best way to refinish this part of the laminate furniture is to cover it with colorful fabric. This opportunity adds color, style, and texture. As a second option, you can remove it altogether, but I wanted to add
I cut a piece of fabric down to have about 3″ of overhang around the back of the board. By the way, iron the fabric first! I didn’t and I now have a little wrinkle permanently attached. Oh well, live and learn.
Apply a gentle mist of spray adhesive and let it set up for about three minutes. starting at the middle of the front, quickly smooth out the fabric all the way around. Flip to the back, and fold the corners like it’s a present. Spray it down with more spray adhesive.
When using the spray adhesive, I prefer to work outside so I don’t overspray onto anything that I don’t want sticky. Plus, it’s stinky. Outside’s definitely best!
STEP THREE: ROLL ON THE PAINT
Because my Hubby is a very neat painter, he takes often over finish work for me. He used a foam roller and rolled on a satin finish paint. We started to use a flat finish paint, testing in an inconspicuous place. It didn’t look very good, as it seemed to show off fine scratches and imperfections in this old piece. We switched to a satin finish paint. Fortunately, it gripped well to the primer. In fact, it rolled on and dried beautifully, hiding the scars and imperfect spots. He painted two coats of paint to get a fantastic finish.
We decided to go with Valspar’s Fossil White which we had bought at our local Ace Hardware store. We had it on hand. I knew the creamy white and teal would look stunning together, so we went with it.
After the paint dried, I also untaped the casters.
STEP FOUR: RE-ATTACH THE BACKER BOARD
After the paint dried, my husband helped me reattach the backer board with small nails.
I really didn’t have any use for this cart. Honestly, I wanted to make a tutorial for this blog, and it seemed like a fun project. So instead of keeping it, I gave it to a friend who teaches school. She’s always looking for affordable or free pieces like this one to use in her classroom. She intends to use it for a media cart. She’s really pleased with it because the casters make it easy to move around, it’s wipeable, and sturdy again. I hope she can use this piece for years to come.
So now you know. You can paint laminate furniture! Save money by updating those old storage pieces around your home instead of replacing them.
