Nurseries and Baby Gear
Painting unfinished wood dresser
Just wondering if anyone has tips on painting wooden furniture. I bought an unfinished wood dresser for the baby's room and plan on painting it a bright green color. I was curious if you used a primer first (what type?) or if you think it would be fine to use a paint/primer in one? Did you use an oil or water based paint? any other tips i should know?
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Re: Painting unfinished wood dresser
Latex paints are much easier to work with than oil-based, especially for beginners. Also make sure to have a good paint brush (I prefer Purdy brand brushes).
Even if it's unfinished wood, I'd make sure to sand it lightly first and then clean it very well (tack cloth works great and you can find it in the painting aisle at Lowes or HD). You can probably get away with one coat of primer, lightly sanding after priming if necessary. Then, paint with 2 coats of paint, lightly sanding in between coats.
I'd probably finish it off with a top coat of matte polyurethane just to make sure the paint finish stays fresh.
Married Bio
Married Bio
I would only prime with an oil based primer. You don't get peeling that way, and you can paint oil based primer over ANYTHING -- even composite.
This is a REALLY good tutorial:
https://www.younghouselove.com/2009/02/how-to-paint-furniture/
Actually: the key to preventing peeling is to always paint "thin" to "fat." Meaning: you can do oil over latex/acrylic/water-based, but you can't do the reverse. Think of how in a glass of oil and vinegar or chicken broth the fat floats to the top - it naturally wants to be on top, and if you put it on the bottom, it pushes it's way to the top, causing other layers to peel.
For an unfinished piece of furniture, it really doesn't matter if you use oil or water based primer, as long as you don't try to paint latex paint over oil primer (that would be disaster!) It's safest to use primer and top coats of matching type (oil and oil, water and water) to avoid the problem entirely.
One final note: if it WAS a finished piece, I would highly recommend oil, because you would have no way of knowing if the existing paint was oil or water based.