I still have from my single student days two Ikea dressers and a wardrobe which are in pretty good shape but don’t match the furniture in any of the bedrooms. Rather than get rid of them and lose clothing storage options, can I paint them? I don’t want to get rid of them since they serve a purpose and have held up well enough for my purposes.
I’ve found a few message boards where people mention doing that. Sanding them, priming them and painting.
My questions are, after you prime it can you use latex paint? I want to avoid oil based because of the smell and the time it takes to dry.
Has anyone done this? How did it look? Did you use a paint brush or a roller.
It doesn’t matter whether you got them from IKEA, Conforama or as heirlooms from grandma… what matters is what are they made of, are they already painted, etc.
I’ve done it with both laminated-fibre furniture and wood furniture. I used latex paint as well, because I was painting inside and didn’t want to stink up the place. I’d be very careful about sanding the laminated-fibre stuff first, though. I’ve found the paint I used to stick pretty well to a primed surface that’s not been sanded, and it made sure I don’t accidentally get done to the actual fibre while sanding. YMMV.
The wood furniture I painted right after I got it – still looks good, was really easy to paint.
I used paint brushes both times, instead of rollers. I tried to use a roller, but the surfaces (being unsanded) were rather too smooth for it to catch, and it didn’t actually roll anywhere…paint brush gave a perfectly smooth coating, though.
Note: I sealed the latex paint with lacquer on the table I painted, so as to make sure it wouldn’t scratch easily. Again, YMMV depending on whether your other furniture will look good with a coat of lacquer.
Laminated wood. I typed the OP late last night before bed. For some reason around here, when you say IKEA, you get the image of laminated wood as opposed to a hardwood. The dressers are in good shape but don’t match anything else in the room I want to put them in.
I was thinking of lightly sanding them. Just enough to scuff up the finish to get paint to stick on it and using some Benjamin Moore Fresh Start primer of which I have an extra quart as a primer. I have some left over dark brown paint in a semigloss which I think would work with the other furniture in that room.
I’m not fond of the wardrobe but we need it since the house has very little in the way of closet storage and a good portion of what there was we had put in.
Wear a mask when sanding them. The process used to stain or laminate the wood uses nasty chemicals. You definitely don’t want to be breathing those in.
On second thought, go with what Enterprise suggests and just prime the furniture before you paint it. Safer and easier.
There’s a special “liquid sandpaper” product that I used many years ago when I painted my kitchen cabinets. You brush it on like paint, and then can use a single coat of normal latex. Definite issue with fumes, but it’s quick and easy. (Sorry, totally don’t remember the name of the product.)
Here’s my suggestion. Find a paint store in your area (little mom and pop store, even better), not a hardware store that sells paint, a paint store. Remove one of the drawers from the dresser, bring it in, when someone asks if they can help you (and they will, becuase it’s not a Home Depot or Lowes) point at it and say “How do I paint this” and they should promptly hand you everything you need, tell you what to do and all you’ll have to do is pick out the color and finish.
Okay, it’s not THAT easy, but really, if you bring in a sample, they can tell you what to do.
primer in spray paint form is quite a bit easier than paint on with a brush kind. i’ve found that you don’t have to sand using the spraypaint kind. of course, it does smell a bit.