Has anyone painted a laminated desk?

15 years ago

I have an old laminate desk that I want to dress up for a sewing/craft table. Does anyone have any ideas for changing the looks of the table top? I fear a painted service may show marks easily. Thanks for your help.

Comments (3)

lindasewandsew
15 years ago
I would sand it so paint will stick to it, prime it with my favorite primer (Zinsser primer, available at HD and Lowes), then paint with any good brand of semi-gloss paint. Here's a link fot the Paint Forum, where the paint experts are. Linda

Here is a link that might be useful: Paint Forum
concretenprimroses
15 years ago
I'm not sure what to tell you, but I'm thinking of reverse stenciling my tv stand using ferns. When you say laminate do you mean melamine? There is paint for that. My tv stand is faux wood, paper like stuff glued over whatever board. I was thinking of spraying it with some acrylic urethane first to waterproof it before painting.

Another idea would be to decoupage a pretty tissue paper on the top and then urethane it with several coats. I've been reading about contact paper they now make a "stainless steel" one, wonder how that would be for a work surface. if you could find some you could check it out.
good luck, let usknow/see what you do.
kathy
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Look at all these gorgeous pictures! The cat's my favorite, though .... abbycat, have you tried taking a fine Sharpie and coloring in the white edge? I'll tell you those Sharpies are my best friends, hiding a bunch of, uh, "issues." Our house is thirteen years-old and in most of the bathrooms and the laundry room is still the builder-installed almond-colored laminate atop builder grade oak cabs. I painted the cabs a cream color (BM's Calming Cream) in two of the bathrooms and WOW do those countertops sing now! I'm actually in the process of painting the laundry room cabs and even with just the primer the countertops already look better. They were never ugly, but it's funny how with the right color cab they look downright good. I cannot imagine changing them because they look good as is and they certainly function v. well! With all the stuff in the sundry bathrooms nothing has stained them and I find them super easy to clean. Okay I lie: if we ever find the money to "do" our master bed & bath the bath will be a gut job, so who knows what will be going on in there? Pas moi! But I find the laminate countertops we do have to be durable and pleasing.
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dian57, Thank you so much for sharing your experience. How deeply did you sand? I wonder if one needs to sand the laminate until the particleboard shows through. That is, creating enough tiny breaks so that the primer can glue/fuse the residual laminate, now broken, edges with the particleboard spaces, thereby preventing bubbles or chipping. I know I'll have to use multiple coats of primer and sand between coats, just because I'm not very good. Perhaps paintguy or someone can address this peeling problem. Since my project is a desk, your observations about books addresses the same concerns I have about the desk surface. Maybe a related observation: I just finished priming drywall with an oil-based primer (BM superspec) and some of the primer dripped on the vinyl sheet flooring. The primer isn't readily soluble in acetone, GooGone Xtreme, or mineral spirits, yet it comes off if I scrape it with my fingernail. So the surface preparation is very important. Perhaps an epoxy-type first coat is necessary? The use of epoxy adds another variable and could make the adhesion worse so I really don't want to use it. Moral for me: don't try to make something out of nothing.
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I've undermounted three oval lavatories in laminate countertops. Used exterior grade plywood for the substrate and painted the plywood underside with several coats of an alkyld base swimming pool paint. (Alternatively, you could laminate the underside also.) Glued a narrow laminate strip to the inside edge of the cutout and caulked between the lavatory & bottom of countertop. They've been in service several years and have had no problems. Of course, a bathroom sink doesn't get near the use that a kitchen sink does. I would NOT attempt this using particle board. Just saw a showroom display of 'Counterseal' product. Looks quite nice and seems to be a quality product. Comes in 5 color variations of white, beige and black. Did not price it out and you're locked into using a 'Counterseal' sink. Link follows. Here is a link that might be useful: Counterseal
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The home depot in my area (TN) stocks the product so you might try HD's in other towns near you. I notched it while shopping for some tile supplies. It is a clear paper-thin adhesive sheet that was quite expensive. My dh thinks it great...me, not so much, I just don't have much confidence In it holding-up for years and years. I'm not willing to spend the big money on tile and grout without a tried and true backing.
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tscreates
15 years ago
I painted a laminated kitchen table. The laminate was originally a shiny black surface - the kind that scratches as soon as you look at it. I have redone this same table several times not because of wear- only because I need to redecorate. This last resurfacing was done to match my very real granite counter. I posted the pictures and instructions on creative-stitch.net in the forum category . Just click on the forum category and follow the links to the forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: creative-stitch.net - forum

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Has anyone painted a laminated desk?

Comments (3)

lindasewandsew

concretenprimroses

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tscreates

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