Learn how to easily paint laminate furniture and give it a fresh update just using chalk paint! See how I took this cabinet from dark and dreary to a light and bright farmhouse style using just chalk paint and my simple, thrifty paint trick!

What is my trick? Using a homemade chalk paint recipe to turn my latex primer into chalk paint for extra staying power!

As a second hand thrifter, it’s very helpful to have a basic knowledge of how to paint furniture. This, however, was my first time to paint laminate furniture.

Research on How to Paint Laminate Furniture

When doing my research, I saw lots of advice about using expensive plastic primers and chemically heavy oil based primers. All of which I would increase the cost of this project considerably!

I also found recommendations for using a water based latex primer and chalk paint, both of which I had! I wondered about taking it a step further, and try using a chalk paint recipe to turn my latex primer that I already have into chalk paint for extra staying power. Then paint with chalk paint as normal over that.

I wasn’t so sure how it would go, but I gave it my best educated guess and dove in. As it turns out, you can achieve lovely results when you paint laminate furniture with chalk paint as your primer and regular paint. AND BONUS! NO SANDING REQUIRED!

The double chalk paint method also keeps this cabinet from being too glossy and polished looking, which I personally prefer. I am creating a vintage farmhouse feel after all, and I want my piece to look layered with years. To my eye, the painted version of this cabinet, brush strokes and all, has more of a vintage feel than the original wood look.

Dining Room Makeover

Painting this piece is also part of my dining room makeover. Much of the furniture we own I have either bought second hand, or it has been given to us. So it’s rather mismatched, but the bones of most of the furniture is on point. (except the table, but that’s for another post!)

Since the bones are good, I do plan on using most of the furniture I have, but give them makeovers.

My goal is to streamline all the competing wood tones. I want to make it feel more open and airy, and add a little more polish while still maintaining some rustic farmhouse charm.

Seeing the results of this cabinet makeover also helped give me more clarity on what to do about areas in the room that were leaving me stumped and undecided.

I’m so glad that I chose to paint this cabinet first, which was a very simple project, before moving forward to bigger projects that will be so much more involved. Brightening up this cabinet changed things just enough, that I could see it effecting my next move in the dining room makeover.

Tools You Will Need

Lint free cloth for cleaning the piece of furniture

Chalk paint or latex paint that’s been turned into chalk paint using this recipe

Primer paint that’s been turned into chalk paint using this recipe

Plaster of Paris for the chalk paint recipe

Clear container for mixing your paint

Paint brush

Stir stick or plastic untensil

A piece of laminate furniture with “good bones” and no peeling

How to Paint Laminate Furniture

So let’s get to it, shall we?

Why Chalk Paint?

The key to my success in painting cabinet was using chalk paint as my paint and primer! The dilemma in painting laminate furniture is getting your paint to adere to the laminate. Sanding is not much of an option because you risk sanding through your laminate finish to the press board underneath.

The beauty of using chalk paint is that you do not need to sand your piece before painting. This is true with all chalk paint. I was wanting to go for extra grit and coverage since I’m basically painting a shiny sticker, so I also used a chalk paint primer which I will show you how to make!

I used this chalk paint recipe courtesy of Andrea at Pine and Prospect Home, to turn a latex paint and primer that I already had into chalk paint. Using a recipe to convert my latex paint into chalk paint is what made this project so affordable. I am using paint I already had to brighten and lift the appearance of piece of furniture that I already have! oh yeah! Free is my favorite price tag. 😉

I also created a custom color by mixing two paint colors I had on hand. What you see here is 2 parts Sherwin Williams Collanod Gray and 1 part Sherwin Williams Snowbound.

How to Paint laminate Furniture with Chalk Paint Primer and Chalk Paint

Start by cleaning your furniture well with a degreaser or microfiber cloth.

Next, remove any hardware that might be difficult to paint around. I removed the knob on the front of my cabinet.

Then, simply use this recipe to turn your latex primer into chalk paint primer. (Be sure to mix the water and Plaster of Paris together first! I may or may not have made the mistake of not reading throughly and dumping it all together at once, haha! It’s chunky. )

Mix well and apply one coat of chalk paint primer to your furniture. Work it in well with the brush. Be sure you have covered every surface of the piece. The grit of this chalk paint primer is what will give your chalk paint something to really grab on to. You want that staying power!

Here is my cabinet with one coat of chalk paint primer. This stuff dries pretty quickly! In my experience it dried in about 30-45 minutes.

After your base primer coat is thoroughly dry, apply your top coat!

For me this is all it needed. It wouldn’t hurt to add another coat of chalk paint, but with four little boys running around, time was just more of a commodity for me.

It is also highly recommended to add a protective top coat. I’m still deciding on this. I really like the rough chalk paint finish and I fear it looking too shiny with a top coat. It’s also not a high traffic piece in our house, but I do live with four little boys so I may eat my words.

If I do apply a top coat, I will keep it very simple and use a spray paint version. I’ve done this before with pieces and it’s insanely quick and easy! It just really needs to be done outside and haven’t prioritized it. When we get a nice day here, we are outside playing!

Next, replace your hardware if needed.

Then, stand back and admire your work! You’re done!

Details

When I went to put the hardware back on the cabinet, I realized how dirty it was and went to clean it. Well, It was nearly impossible to clean all the gunk off that thing. That’s when I remembered the set of cabinet hardware knobs that I snagged Facebook Marketplace for FIVE DOLLARS!

It is an extra one that we won’t need when we use these knobs for our kitchen cabinets. Score!

I’m so glad I thought to use it! The new knob definitely contributes to the overall feeling of this cabinet having a lighter, fresher look.

My Finishing Touches

In my case, I am painting a piece that has this bead board type detail in the front. I’m not the most precise painter, and well…this happened. As you can see in the picture below, some of the paint is in the cracks and it looks inconsistent. I’m not sure I could have avoided it though.

I could have just painted over the cracks with more paint to smooth it all out, but I really hated to lose the dimension of the bead board look.

So, I decided to try painting in the cracks with a darker gray acrylic paint that I had on hand.

I used a small craft paint brush, but it still was looking messy no matter how careful I was.

I decided to try painting the cracks, but I let it be messy as I went. Then, quickly before the paint dried, I wiped away the messy areas with a damp paper towel.

It worked like a charm! Because those cracks are inset deeper in the furniture than the area where the paint was looking sloppy, I could easily take a wet paper towel over the entire crack. It left the dark paint inside the crack where I wanted it, but removed it from the surface of the piece where it looked sloppy.

Whew! That was a really weird process to try to type out and describe! And I didn’t like saying “crack” that much. 😬 Let’s move on, shall we?

The Result

I’m so happy with how it turned out!

Painting this laminate cabinet really opened up our entire dining room!

Brightening up the corner by painting this cabinet gave the whole room a larger, more spacious feel.

I’m so glad I risked trying to paint the cracks darker as well! I think my favorite part about this piece is the dimension and pop in the bead board detail.

Time investment

I think it took me two evenings after kids were in bed to paint the entire thing. I could have been done at that point except for my bead board issue.

Once I decided that I wanted to paint the bead board detail, I can tell you with confidence that it took nearly one full viewing of “Finding Dory.”

Decorating the Cabinet

The vintage farmhouse decor on top of the cabinet is especially precious to me.

The wooden bucket, which I believe was used for storing butter back in the day, is a family heirloom. I grew up going to my grandparents farm and this wooden bucket was actually used to store the small toys they kept for us in their home.

Now that I think about it, so much of what we played with there were antique and vintage toys. So I suppose I come by my love for vintage and antiques honestly.

I styled the bucket by filling it with dried silver dollar eucalyptus and I think it looks so beautiful!

The antique crockery bowls were exciting finds! In fact,I saw a bowl just like my large one today at an antique store for $48, but I got mine on Facebook Marketplace for $10! The smaller crockery bowl inside was a thrift store find for $8!

I filled the bowl with a blue and white tea towel from Ikea. Then I layed a small vintage whisk broom over top and I love the texture it adds to the whole look!

Ikea is a great place to grab inexpensive and farmhouse tea towels! They no longer carry the exact towel you see here, but here is a link to a beautiful set of farmhouse inspired tea towels for only $6! They have lots of really inexpensive tea towels that fit the vintage farmhouse style perfectly, so be sure to look around.

How is the Painted Laminate Cabinet Holding up?

My chalk paint primer technique has held up for a month now. It has taken a classic boy house beating of hot wheel cars driving on it’s surface and pencil drawings as well. 🤦‍♀️

Nothing has chipped the paint thus far. I preformed a good ol’ “fingernail scratch” test on the side of the cabinet and the paint didn’t budge.

All in all, painting this cabinet was not too much of time commitment at all! Considering how much the results drastically changed how much I enjoy being in this room, it was well worth it!

I’m so happy I decided to paint this laminate cabinet a brighter color and so glad I took a little risk and painted the insets of the bead board to give it dimension. I feel like it is such a unique piece now! Whereas before, I’m pretty sure you could go buy this at Target or Wayfair.

What do You Think?

Will give painting laminate furniture a try? Have you ever painted laminate furniture before?

I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Have a blessed day friends!

Love,

Emma

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