Do I Need To Remove Varnish Before Painting

Read this before you pigment "unfinished" IKEA furniture or previously stained pieces! That clear coat makes painting over polyurethane or varnish impossible unless you follow these three simple tips!

How to Paint Over Clear Top Coat so it Doesn't Peel

At that place's nil worse than putting hours of effort into painting a newly acquired slice of article of furniture, only to have information technology scratch and peel off at the slightest touch! With some prep work and these uncomplicated tips, you can successfully paint over polyurethane or other finished forest and requite your furniture or trim a whole new look!

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Refinishing old furniture is a keen fashion to keep it out of the landfill and give it new life. Just information technology tin can take a lot of work to arrive look great again! The hardest part is painting over varnish, lacquer or other top coats and getting information technology to stick! Trust me, I've been there!

I recently bought what I thought were unfinished IKEA Trofast drawer units for my son's IKEA Lego table. Little did I know, just they had a clear glaze of varnish over the raw woods! I didn't realize it until I had applied the start coat of paint, which scratched off under my fingernail easily.

So frustrating! The only fashion to fix it was to sand off all the pigment and try again (or if you're lazy similar me, merely purchase a new one!) With the correct preparation, the paint turned out beautifully!

two IKEA Lego tables made from IKEA Trofast drawer units, made to look like giant Lego bricks

Another problem that tin arise when painting over varnished wood is that the tannins can however drain through, leaving you with a blotchy finish. Oak is the biggest culprit, and tin can make white pigment plough orangish over time!

When I painted my ugly melamine cabinets with oak trim, I found that the take hold of bars and side panels weren't as crisp white equally the residual of the doors. It took a coat of the right primer to block the tannins from bleeding through.

before and after photos of painted lower kitchen cabinets

Want to acquire my tricks? Hither'south how to successfully paint over polyurethane or other finished forest!

Sand off the old finish

I know, I know, no 1 likes to sand! It's ane of my least favorite tasks in any DIY project. Simply the easiest way to remove that shiny acme coat of lacquer or varnish is to rough it upward with some sandpaper.

orbital sander removing old stain from tabletop

Sanding is specially important if you plan to stain the forest a different color instead of painting it. The stain can't be captivated into the woods if there's a layer of protective blanket on information technology!

When I refinished my dining table, I used progressively finer grits of sandpaper to restore the wood to a smooth cease. With just a few passes of the sander, all that yellowed varnish was removed (along with scratches, dents and gunk)!

dining table in process of being refinished

Only how do you lot sand curved pieces or intricate details? Effort these contour sanding grips for things like spindles or circular table legs.

For sanding in concave curves or holes, I similar to utilise a drum sander attachment on my drill or Dremel.

Use a Dremel with a sanding drum attachment to get into the bite marks of your watermelon decor.

Using a drum sander to sand inside of handle of DIY Lego bin

Use a deglosser

And then you want to paint piece of furniture without sanding? So you need this stuff! Deglosser is basically liquid sandpaper. It'due south dandy for all those nooks and crannies or intricate details, or if yous take a large piece that would take forever to sand.

The chemical will etch the varnish and allow paint to adhere. Still, it is a pretty powerful chemical, so make sure you apply the proper eye and skin protection!

Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations deglosser on pine wood background

Information technology'southward always a good idea to test the deglosser on an inconspicuous area of your projection first to make sure it doesn't ruin the wood. To apply, just saturate a lint-gratuitous rag with the solution and wipe it over the surface. Let it dry, and then you're ready to paint! You don't even have to rinse off the deglosser first! Bonus!

When I painted my melamine cabinets, I used the deglosser in the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit to clean and rough upwards the surface for painting. I was worried that the paint wouldn't attach to the slick plastic laminate, but it worked like a charm! After two years, it still looks great!

painted melamine cabinets with oak grab bars with new hardware

Apply a bonding primer

My final tip for painting varnished wood is to utilize a high quality bonding primer first. Not merely volition it ensure that your paint volition stick, but it will accept less coats to get full coverage! I've used two types of bonding primer for dissimilar situations.

Zinsser B-I-Due north primer is a shellac based primer that volition end tannin drain in its tracks! It requires mineral spirits to clean upward, so exist sure to keep some on hand for any potential spills or drips. This is what I used on the oak sections of my kitchen cabinets.

The other primer I recommend is INSL-10 Stix bonding primer. This stuff will stick to annihilation, including tile! It's what I used when I painted my tile floor and the IKEA Trofast drawer units, and it's held upwardly amazingly well!

For the best finish, give the primer a quick sanding with 220 grit sandpaper and make clean off the dust with a tack cloth before starting to paint. This volition remove any brush strokes and give y'all the flawless await you want!

Now that you know how to paint over polyurethane and other articulate top coat finishes, you lot can tackle that piece of piece of furniture that'due south been sitting in the garage for ages!

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