Hello,
I am considering buying a buffet from IKEA. It has a dark stained top, which I will keep, but it is largely made of white painted fiberboard. Does anyone have experience repainting previously painted fiberboard? Anything I should know about sanding it?
Many thanks.
Jocelyn
Replies
If its new , clean, why sand it? paint it and be done.
Most of that Ikea white stuff is a hard finish- maybe melamine. I tried painting it this winter.
First I used a standard spray paint, but it didn't cover, so then I used the basic prime-then-paint technique. I primed with Zinzer Bullseye shellac-based primer that adheres to un-sanded surfaces. Then I followed Zinzer's instructions for applying the paint.
I found that 24 hours after painting, anything that tapped the bookcase took the paint right off. I was sure that every time my son took a book off the shelf he'd scrape off a few inches of paint. It hasn't been quite as bad as I had feared, but the paint does scrape away awfully easily.
I've read about a paint that might be able to do the trick. I've never tried it, but I saved an article that I found when it first came out. It's called Fusion and it's a spray paint made by Krylon for painting plastics like PVC pipes, lawn furniture, and children's play equipment. It's possible that it might adhere to the Ikea finish. You can check the Krylon website to see who sells it. For the cost of a can of spray paint, it might be worth a try.
Thanks for the info. In the end, I didn't buy the table I was looking at because I was wary of all the things you described. I bought something stained (which of course I will re-paint), but that shouldn't be a problem :-).
Jocelyn
Tish,
Did you try using a deglosser first before priming?
I've never heard of deglosser.
Deglosser is in lieu of sanding - it takes off the shine a little so the paint has something to stick to, also known as 'liquid sander'. I've never used it myself, but if I was painting something with a shiny surface like melamine or glossy paint and didn't want to sand, I'd consider it. Check out:
http://www.jasco-help.com/products/prod_sp.htm
Too cool! It looks like Jasco makes a number of products I'd like to have. Thank you for the suggestion and link.