I’ve never had to consider painting Ikea furniture because the white laminate finish works with almost any colour. When I built my first fitted Ikea Pax, I was happy to keep it white. The next one however needed a colour change!
To see my more ambitious alcove project of fitted shelves, check out this post.
Items needed
- Paint
- Sandpaper 120 grit
- Sanding block or multi-tool attachment
- Zinsser Primer
- Frog tape for masking
- Foam roller
- Turpentine
- Face mask for dust protection
The Nursery
This room has come a long way considering we bought the house and didn’t realise there was no radiator in the room!
The baby’s room has a feature wall which is quite a strong green. Putting a white Pax wardrobe here would hide a third of the wall and colour and if it was fitted it might not look as good as it could. This has a bigger alcove than our bedroom so fitting a Pax wardrobe here was going to be be a slightly more complex job than the first one.
I’ve seen loads of Pax on Pinterest where they colour match it to the room. It makes a striking vision by simply blending the furniture into the wall. Personally I love the bold dark ones that people do, but for the Nursery I wanted a simple fitted look which matched the feature wall.
Prepping the parts
The smooth finish laminate can’t be painted on without some prepping. If you were to paint directly, the paint wouldn’t adhere and give an awful finish. I used the same Dulux Diamond matt paint I used for my walls to use onto wardrobe to ensure the same finish.
Where needs painting?
After measuring the alcove I knew I’d have to paint the front two doors and half of the right hand side of the wardrobe. This is because the right hand side would come out past the chimney breast. The left hand side would be concealed by the external facing wall.
It’s significantly easier to paint the parts before the wardrobe is built up!
Step 1: Sand
The essential step for painting Ikea furniture. The paint needs a rough surface to bond to. This isn’t possible with the smooth finish on the Ikea unit so the first job is to sand. Fortunately my multi-tool has a sanding attachment so I could do this with minimal effort.
The Zinsser primer however can stick to smooth surfaces really well but I wanted to make sure that the wardrobe could take the odd knock or two and not be compromised!
The idea with the sanding isn’t to take the colour off, but to strip the clear coat which gives the glossy / sheen finish. Once the part has a matt texture you know that it’s rough enough for the next stage. 120 grit is rough enough to get the desired finish.
Step 2: Clean
There will be a significant amount of dust that will need cleaning. If left this will effect the next layer going on as it will will reduce the amount of adhesion. I used turpentine and a microfibre cloth to remove all the dust.
Step 3: Prime
This is where the magic of the Zinsser primer comes in! This stuff smells pretty strong so recommended to have the windows open. I applied a thin layer to ensure it’s as smooth as possible. This needs to dry for about an hour depending on conditions.
I’ve mentioned that a foam roller should be used. This is because it provides the best finish and you won’t see brush marks from a standard paint brush. You will need at least one for the primer and another for the paint. For best results I used a new foam roller for each application of the primer as it dries weirdly.
Optional step: Sand again
It could be overkill but I saw some people sand again. This sanding is done a lot lighter to remove discrepancies in the primer application and to give a really good surface for a 2nd primer application.
If you do this then you need to remove the dust again and then reapply the primer. The point of this optional step is that two layers of primer have gone on with a keyed layer in between. This should further ensure that the paint doesn’t flake off when experiencing bumps and scrapes.
Step 4: Paint
An oil based paint will have better durability. Because I’m using the same paint I used for my walls, it’s a water based matt paint. I went for Dulux diamond matt so that it’s cleanable at least and part of Dulux’s flagship range. Once again using a foam roller to get the best finish possible.
It’s worth letting it dry and adding a second layer of the paint, as you would when painting a wall.
You can additionally put a clear coat on top to further protect the finish or if you wanted a smooth to touch finish. To be honest by this point I couldn’t be bothered and I was happy with it. I can imagine painting a different colour on top of a clear coat would be problematic in the future. For now this was good enough for painting ikea furniture for me.
If you’re interested, check out my more ambitious project of fitted shelves in a different alcove!
