Also, take measures to protect yourself and the people in the house with personal protection equipment like dust masks and goggles. The fine dust particulate that results from sanding down plastic can be dangerous to inhale. Tape off the work zone with plastic sheeting and open windows and use fans for ventilation of the paint fumes.
Remove all items near the cabinets or counters to another area. Open the windows. If you can, set up a box fan , so it blows outward of one window. You want to promote cross-ventilation throughout the work area. Place drop cloths on the flooring and tape contractor's paper or plastic on all surfaces that will not be coated. Confine the work area with plastic sheeting to prevent the sanding dust from traveling throughout the house. Protect yourself from sanding dust with a dust mask or respirator.
Sand down the laminate or melamine surface with or grit sandpaper. Using a work light, frequently check you are removing the glossiness from the surface, giving you a matte or flat finish.
Do not sand down too hard, or you can risk damaging the thin wear layer of the laminate or melamine. Instead of this step, you can substitute sanding by applying a liquid deglosser or "liquid sandpaper" to the surface.
Wipe down the sanded surface with a tack cloth, using light pressure to prevent transferring the wax from the cloth to the surface. Follow by wiping down the surface with mineral spirits and clean, lint-free cloths. Let the surface dry completely. Skip this step if you opted for liquid deglossing. Apply a thin coat of paint or primer, if the paint you're using calls for it to the entire surface, using a paintbrush for the edges and tight spots and a roller with a high-density foam roller cover designed for smooth surfaces for the flat areas.
Take special care to maintain a wet edge while painting: Overlap the edge of each painted section with fresh primer or paint before the previously painted edge dries. Allow the first coat to dry for at least 6 hours or as recommended by the manufacturer. During the initial drying process for any of the paint coats, do not use fans blowing air into the room.
The fans will push airborne dust and debris onto the wet paint. Ventilate with open windows but only if it's not too windy or drafty and turn fans facing the other way, sucking out the room's air and venting it outside. Apply one or more additional coats of paint, using the same techniques. Let each coat dry as directed. If you are using standard enamel paint, the last one or two coats can be layers of clear acrylic sealer. It's not uncommon to apply as many as five coats in total: a primer coat to begin, then two coats of enamel paint, finishing with one or two coats of acrylic sealer.
In general, the odor from drying or curing coatings is strongest while the coating is still wet. Primer is designed to bond to the surface and generally gives a better substrate for your top-coat paint to stick to. Bear in mind that if you just used a primer in step 4 then you should really apply an undercoat prior to your final two top coats. Using a high density mini roller can give you a really neat finish.
This takes a bit of practice but leaves a great finish when you get the hang of it. Always bear in mind that the paint will never be as hard wearing as the original melamine — melamine is essentially plastic.
Paint is… paint. Paint can take quite a long time to properly harden. Water based paints will generally harden more quickly than oil based paints however it can still take a good couple of days for the paint to be hard enough to leave heavy objects on without it causing a problem — a few weeks for oil based.
Yes — definitely! Scratches will be much more visible on a sprayed surface. Remember you can find a list of some of my most commonly used tools I use over on this page. You can also buy by favourite metric-only double sided tape measure from here. Best of luck with your project! Skip to content. How Do I Paint Melamine? DIY Tips! Kitchens tend to be pretty full of stuff. Before you start taking apart the cabinets remove everything that could potentially get in your way.
They usually include paint, brushes, sponges, and instructions. Otherwise you can get all these items separately. This will definitely give you the most professional-looking finish with no drips or brush marks. The finished product is usually worth the few hundred dollars it will cost. Whatever you decide, I recommend spraying a primer coat first and allowing it to dry for a few days before spraying the top color.
Once the primer is totally dry give it another light sanding to remove any brush marks.
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