Reinvented TV Cabinet: How to Paint Laminate Furniture with Metallic Paint

Do you have an old piece of junk furniture you keep thinking you need to get rid of?  Why not paint it and use it in a totally different way?  Keep reading to see how to paint laminate furniture with metallic paint and how I transformed this old laminate TV cabinet into an entryway show stopper.

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HOW TO PAINT LAMINATE FURNITURE WITH METALLIC PAINT

STEP ONE: FIND A PIECE OF LAMINATE FURNITURE

Find an old piece of furniture you want to reinvent. Here is my dining room a couple of houses ago.  See that credenza on the wall?

STEP TWO: SAND YOUR PIECE

Sand your piece before you paint. I used a pretty fine grit and probably should have sanded more than I did.  I just used one of those sanding blocks you get at Home Depot.  You just want to rough up the surface so the primer will have something to stick to.  You don’t want to make it super smooth.

STEP THREE: CLEAN YOUR PIECE

Clean your piece before you prime it.  After you have sanded your piece, you will have created dust and it’s important to clean that off.  I used Simple Green All Purpose Cleaner.  I would just make sure you aren’t leaving your piece greasy.

STEP FOUR: PRIME YOUR PIECE

Prime your piece with an appropriate primer.  I did a lot of research as to whether I would have to use oil based primer and paint since it was a laminate piece, but I ultimately used water based paint and water based primer.  Brush on two coats of latex primer.  I used the one you see here.  Since I used a roller briefly on another project and was not happy with the texture and I found that I could make a brush look smoother.  So, here I used long smooth brush strokes to achieve a smooth finish.

STEP FIVE: CHOOSE YOUR PAINT

This is the hardest and best part.  I love these Modern Masters Metallic Paints and I was excited to use them.  I used Black Pearl (Semi-Opaque) as my base with a wash of Steel Gray (Semi-Opaque) on top.  I also used Olympic Gold (Opaque) for accents.  After several days of dry time, I added two coats of the interior water-based polyurethane gloss you see here.

STEP FIVE: PAINTING WITH METALLIC PAINT

If you use these paints, pay attention to what you are buying as far as whether you are getting semi-opaque or opaque.  I wish I had bought the Black Pearl color in opaque instead of semi-opaque.  It took several coats for me to get a solid looking color which would have been so much easier with opaque paint.  The semi-opaque paint was perfect to just feather lightly at the end to give some shimmery depth to the piece.  Definitely allow for dry time between each coat.  A few hours before you are ready to paint, turn your paint upside down to allow all the pigments to mix themselves in.  When you turn your paint right-side up, you will be ready to paint.

Some articles I found regarding metallic paint talked about the painter using a roller and only rolling in one direction to get the pigments to lay down in the same direction.  I do not think you have to be that calculated with this paint.  Like I said, I used a brush and long strokes to achieve a smooth finish.

STEP SIX: PAINT YOUR DETAILS

I used a much smaller brush that I had in an art set when I did the detail work with the gold paint.  Painting the legs and the border around the top and the bottom gave the piece some interest.  I ultimately decided I didn’t like the gold knobs and painted them gray so they would not stand out.

STEP SEVEN: SEAL IT

Seal it all up with polyurethane.  Once you have allowed all of your layers of paint to thoroughly dry, add a couple of coats of polyurethane.  Load your brush with plenty of poly and use one smooth brush stroke all the way from one side to the other in one smooth motion.  This will make your paint job a lot sturdier.  Modern Masters does have it’s own top coat that I included below, but I already had a can of polyurethane, so I used that.  It just ads a layer of protection for your paint.

As far as paint projects go, this one was fun.  I love metallic paint.  If I am going to spend the time and energy on painting something, I want it to have a little personality when I’m done.  I definitely think this piece has personality.  Do you have a piece of furniture that needs some personality?  Try Modern Masters Metallic Paint.

Also, see how to hang an antique bed on your wall here and another furniture redo using metallic paint here.

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