Advice please! - Painting kitchen units?
Mike Garner
I'm about to attack my kitchen but would appreciate some advice before
I make a complete cods if it :-).
The unit fronts are varnished wood and I would like to paint them
white. Should I strip them totally before starting to paint or just
give them a quick sanding? Also, what sort of paint would you
recommend? (for a matt/silk finish - not gloss). The sides of the same
units are a beige formica type of laminate (only thin though) - will
these paint too?
The banisters are also in for the same treatment. Any comments you
have there would also be welcome.
Kind regards,
...
Mike Garner
mi...@supply.demon.co.uk 10010...@compuserve.com
Max Bone
In article <3244eed3...@news.demon.co.uk>
mi...@supply.demon.co.uk "Mike Garner" writes:
> The unit fronts are varnished wood and I would like to paint them
> white.
You should abraid them properly, use a very fine wet and dry as
opposed to sandpaper. If you breach the varnish in some areas
you'll need to prime these areas first, then apply one or two
coats of undercoat lightly abraiding with wet and dry and plenty
of water between coats to get a superflat proffesional finish,
then apply one or two coats of eggshell to give you the flat
finish you are looking for (very lightly abraiding with wet and
dry and plenty of water between coats). You should end up with a
*very* proffesional finish.
For the melamine sides, abraid them all over with the wet and
dry and water as before, to get a good surface for the paint to
key to. Then follow the same proceedure (undercoat/eggshell)
rubbing down between coats to get a really proffesional finish
> The banisters are also in for the same treatment. Any comments you
> have there would also be welcome.
depends what they are coated with? for the fiddly areas (same
with the units above) you can use a denibbing pad to abraid the
surface. These are rather like the green scouring pad's used for
washing up, you can get the proffesional ones used in car body
repair shops at a automotive wholesalers, they are very good!
particularly for rubbing down between coats.... thats why they
use them for car resprays.
If you haven't bought your paint yet, look in yellow pages under
Decorators Merchants and buy a quality paint that the
proffesional is willing to use. (probably cheaper too...)
Best of luck!
--
Max Bone m...@maxmax.demon.co.uk Co Durham, England.
Sue Murdoch
You have already received a really good bit of advice in the form of
Max's answer. I have painted my kitchen units in the same way in the
past and much better they were for the treatment.
All I wanted to add was a note on the choice of paint. It has to be oil
based as Max says, for toughness, but I noticed at the weekend that
'Fired Earth' stock their own range of paints now and you can get a
'flat oil' paint which evidently has the appearance of a matt emulsion,
but is obviously oil based. They do a lovely colour range, old
fashioned colours, so if you are looking for something a bit unusual try
them. They are more expensive than the decorators merchants would be,
but if it's what you are looking for.... They do small test pots too.
Sue Murdoch
Pete Masheder Lincoln Design Centre
Regarding 'flat oil' paints as mentioned by Sue Murdoch:
I'm not familiar with the 'Fired Earth' brand mentioned, but I have used similar
matt finish oil based paint for painting my ceiling beams (they were already
painted and unstrippable - for the purists who are fainting at the idea!).
1) I have read that matt oil-based paint is nothing like as durable as gloss.
Since I don't bash my beams about, I can't really vouch for this!
2) I've had great trouble cleaning the matt painted surfaces - a wipe with a damp
cloth leaves a line of drip mark 'stains' which have a different reflectivity
(I think I might be inventing words here... ) to the matt finish. This can be
very distracting when caught in the wrong light. This may have been aggravated
by the very dark colour I was using...
I think I'd recommend painting up a bit of board using paint from a sample pot
and subjecting it to a variety of expected kitchen spills. Clean it and see what
it looks like at various angles under electric and natural lighting. If its not OK
then you wont be substantially out of pocket.
If you ring your local National Trust regional office and ask where they get their
paints, they'll put you in touch with the supplier I used (can't remember the
details at the moment).
PMASH
Max Bone
In article <324651...@parallax.co.uk>
su...@parallax.co.uk "Sue Murdoch" writes:
> 'Fired Earth' stock their own range of paints now and you can get a
> 'flat oil' paint which evidently has the appearance of a matt emulsion,
> but is obviously oil based. They do a lovely colour range, old
> fashioned colours, so if you are looking for something a bit unusual try
> them.
Fired Earth had an excellent marketing Idea and got together
with the Victoria & Albert museum, to research a range of
historical colours. I belive they are manufactured by Craig &
Rose. You can also get a similar researched range of colours
from the Permoglaze brand, also rather nice, but not very well
promoted, the first available range covers the Victorian era,
though I belive a Georgian range is under development.
This whole area of paints has been very much undersold, Fired
Earth seemed to have recognized its potential before most of the
competition. If you look at trends in the industry, there has
been a definate resurgence of interest in the use of authentic
historical and regional colours over the last 10 years. A very
welcome development!
Matthew Marks
Max Bone (m...@maxmax.demon.co.uk) wrote:
: If you look at trends in the industry, there has
: been a definate resurgence of interest in the use of authentic
: historical and regional colours over the last 10 years. A very
: welcome development!
Hmmm - fine in theory, but as it's not exactly easy to *prove* their
authenticity, once the marketing team get involved they'll be selling
"Victorian" fluorescent green.
Matthew mat...@rd.bbc.co.uk My opinions, not Auntie's.
Max Bone
In article <5284ma$9...@bbcnews.rd.bbc.co.uk>
mat...@rd.bbc.co.uk "Matthew Marks" writes:
> Hmmm - fine in theory, but as it's not exactly easy to *prove* their
> authenticity, once the marketing team get involved they'll be selling
> "Victorian" fluorescent green.
Oooh! Skeptic :-)
Jon Rouse
Mike Garner wrote:
>
> I'm about to attack my kitchen but would appreciate some advice before
> I make a complete cods if it :-).
paint in our back hall before re-varnishing the
stripped pine. However some of the replacement
timbers have been treated with primer and it is a
sod to get out of the wood.
If you must do horrible things like painting nice
wood, please make sure that what you do is
reversible - fashions change, and what you do
today, someone else may want to undo later.
--
Usenet comments do not necessarily reflect the
views of my employer.
Inge Cubitt
> The unit fronts are varnished wood and I would like to paint them
> white. Should I strip them totally before starting to paint or just
> give them a quick sanding? Also, what sort of paint would you
> recommend? (for a matt/silk finish - not gloss).
You should wash them thoroughly with detergent to remove any grease,
rinse well, and sand just enough to roughen the surface and provide a key
for the new coat.
You could try Satinwood (Dulux I think) as this might allow some of the
wood grain to show, or an eggshell finish over an undercoat. I don't
advise a water-based paint as in my experience they are not very tough if
you need to clean them a lot.
Otherwise buy a few interior decorating mags, and these will show you ad
nauseum how to rag-roll, colour-wash, stencil etc...
> The sides of the same
> units are a beige formica type of laminate (only thin though) - will
> these paint too?
Yes, but sand well, and it won't be as resistant to chipping as over the
proper wood.