Spray Painting Laminate Furniture

So, I have to admit... I can be quite picky when it comes to furniture. And my picky-ness really slows down our attempts to acquire any.  It's probably a problem that I need to work on fixing, but...I can't help it. I want to love every piece that is in my home. And I try to avoid buying the "alright" version while I wait to find the real deal.  Why pay $300 for a disposable, laminate Ikea desk, when I can put that money towards my dream desk that I am BOUND to find sooner or later? 

But sometimes, I will make an exception to my laminate furniture rule. And that's when the furniture is free.

My lovely brother and sister-in-law gifted us with this new bookshelf that they decided they wouldn't have any use for.

I actually have been in need of a bookshelf to help get my office in order. And due to my aforementioned furniture-shopping flaws, I have been out of luck.  So I'm already super excited finally be able to have my reading materials neatly organized...and on top of that, it will give me a good excuse to test out one of my many novice-DIYer questions...can you spray paint laminate furniture?

I've Googled this question and only came up with a bunch of blog posts of people painting laminate furniture by hand. I figured that meant that that is how it should be done.  But part of the reason for this blog is to find out things the hard way, so others don't have to. So I gave it a shot.



There are a few brands out there who have spray paints that are made for plastic.  Since Laminate is typically a  layer of plastic covering something else, I thought this was my best bet.  I bought both Valspar Color Radiance (Lowe's) and Krylon Fusion(Wl-Mart), in order to compare the two. They were both about $4.

Supplies: Minwax Polycrilic (To protect), Valspar Color Radiance in White and La Fonda Mirage, Exacto Knife(for stencil)

Normally, I would lightly sand the laminate with find-grit sand paper, then prime, then brush on paint. But since this post is about finding shortcuts.  I just sprayed away.  I painted  the majority of the entire bookshelf white.  Once it dried, I printed a picture that I found on a wallpaper website, printed it out on card stock, and made a stencil out of it using an exacto knife. I used Valspar Color Radiance In La Fonda Mirage with this stencil to create the design on the back of the shelf.This is what I found:

Calspar-Color Radiance in Flat White

Krylon Fusion in White

The Valspar paint went on nice and evenly, and it was really easy to spray from any angle. This came in handy, since my bookshelf was already put together and I needed to spray from some awkward angles.  The Krylon paint ust sat on top of the laminate, as you would probably expect normal paint to do.  As you can see in the picture, it pooled us and dripped, and didn't really work out as well as the Valspar brand.

Immediately after the paint dried, it was REALLY prone to scratching.  had to patch up a few spots before I put the polycrylic on to protect it.  I did two layers of polycrylic.  So far, it seems to be holding up  really well.  Here's the final product:

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  It was a low-budget project that looks great in my office and is going to make my space a little more organized. And who doesn't love that?  Send me pictures if you try this out, and let me know how it works for you. I might feature your projects and tips on here!