How to Paint Laminate Furniture – Regan’s Room Progress
A simple step-by-step tutorial for how to paint laminate furniture and the best inexpensive kids’ room decor.
We thought we were just about finished with Regan’s bedroom refresh, but what would any bedroom spruce be without a quick dresser makeover? 😉 In the process, I realized there’s one tricky thing about furniture makeovers I haven’t shared much about before: how to paint laminate furniture.
It’s a tricky beast. If you’ve ever attempted to brush paint onto a laminate surface, it’s not a fun lesson to see all of your hard work melt away right before your eyes.
It chips and scuffs easily and paint peels right up, if you don’t know how to paint laminate furniture properly.
Since we rearranged Regan’s room, it needed a tall dresser rather than the long dresser we had before to fit the new layout.
So I snagged this inexpensive laminate dresser from Walmart as a cute, inexpensive replacement.
I liked this 5-drawer dresser because of the faux cane webbing detail on the drawer fronts to coordinate with the cane webbing on Regan’s nightstand chest we hauled in here the other week.
When I need cute, inexpensive furniture in a pinch, Walmart is generally my go-to.
But the black wasn’t going to work in this space, so a quick paint job would make it right at home in her sweet room.
I have to be honest, I think something happened to this dresser in shipping because putting it together had a couple of alignment issues. But I think it was an isolated fluke incident because I’ve seen this other bloggers use this dresser before without a problem. And in the end, it still turned out cute.
How to Paint Laminate Furniture
Supplies
- Kilz Original Primer (or any shellac based primer)
- Respirator mask
- 1.5″ angled brush (I love this paint brush)
- Fine grit sandpaper
- Acrylic based paint or waterborne alkyd based paint
Paint Tip
The key to painting laminate furniture is to ALWAYS use an oil based primer for the best paint adhesion, paint in low humidity, and always let the paint thoroughly cure before heavy use.
Steps
This can of primer has obviously seen a lot of action at our house. 😉
- Apply a coat of Kilz Original primer. After we put together the dresser, we left off the hardware and I brushed an even coat of the primer all over. I don’t usually sand laminate furniture prior to primer because the oil base does its job to help paint stick to the slick surface.
Make sure to wear a respirator mask and work in a well ventilated space because the fumes are pretty strong. I opened all of the windows in the room during this step.
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2. Lightly sand the primed surface once dry. This helps create a smooth surface so no paint drips or brush strokes show.
3. Apply 1-2 even coats of acrylic based or waterborne alkyd enamel paint. I used some Fusion Mineral Paint I already had in the color Bellwood.
And of course, for every kids’ room, anchor the dresser to the wall to prevent tip-over accidents.
This was such a quick laminate furniture paint job that I had knocked out within a couple hours. Look how cute it turned out!
I decorated the top of the dresser with a few sweet finds from Walmart like this floral lamp that works perfectly with Regan’s chinoiserie wallpaper!
This sunburst mirror is my favorite for kids’ rooms because it feels so cheerful.
I incorporated a plant in this fluted planter for a little extra life and used this basket tray for placing storybooks, random toys, or any other odds n ends that are flung on dresser tops.
It’s such a precious corner of her room that now gives us the space we need for Regan’s clothes to organize all she needs for school now that we’re back in full swing.
I rounded up a few more vintage inspired kids’ room decor items and furniture from Walmart Home that I love too. The Little Seeds line they carry is one of my favorites.
Vintage Inspired Kids’ Room Decor & Furniture
So now it’s official. Regan’s big girl bedroom is complete! She’s already decided she’s too big for snuggles in the rocking chair with me, and I’m slightly emotional over that.
Here’s to a big girl room with big kid adventures ahead.
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