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Have you lot decided that you want to paint a piece of IKEA furniture? Not sure where to start?

No worries!

Let'due south take a expect together at all the best ways to paint IKEA furniture that will help you lot attain a professional-looking and long-lasting finish.

This guide will cover how to paint:

  • laminate furniture
  • solid wood furniture
  • metal furniture
Beautiful example of painted IKEA cabinets in a deep navy blue
Livet Hemma

IKEA and I have a long history together.

Like many other humans out at that place, I've bought endless pieces from IKEA over the years.

I've besides eaten many meatballs.

One time you lot're there, it'southward tempting to buy everything considering it's all so dang cheap.

And sometimes impulsive decisions are fabricated, and I'm not just talking about eating besides many meatballs. It happens to the best of us.

Perhaps y'all bought a lot of black pieces and now yous're more into low-cal color schemes. It may also be that your dresser or bookshelf is simply a scrap scruffy looking afterward a few years of employ.

Or your living room is screaming for a assuming pop of color.

Lovely IKEA cabinets painted in violet purple
Sofie Wrede

The attribute I find liberating nearly IKEA furniture is that normally their items are not so crazy expensive that you feel scared to try your hand at DIY'ing them.

If the project is an epic failure, well, at to the lowest degree you lot tried and y'all didn't lose thousands of dollars ruining an expensive slice in the process.

And say what you will near IKEA furniture, but in full general their furniture is pretty robust; it can last yous many years.

If you aren't in a place where you tin buy new furniture, and then painting your IKEA piece of furniture can exist a relatively fast and very toll effective mode to upgrade your space and inject new style into your home.

The want to take an inexpensive, mass-produced IKEA detail and put a personal spin on it is cipher new – there are so many IKEA hacks floating around the internet that it inspired the creation of the wildly pop website called IKEA Hackers back in 2006. The site is a fabulous resource if you're looking for some "hacky" inspiration.

There are endless ways to personalize (or "hack") your IKEA products and paint is just i of the many.

So, whatsoever your reasons may be for wanting to pigment your IKEA furniture, you're in the correct place.

Let's dive in!

Hacked IKEA cabinet painted in red, with pulls replaced with custom gold pulls
Anika'due south DIY Life

How to check what material your IKEA slice is made of

The first matter you need to do is check what material your IKEA piece is made of.

The way you paint your piece is going to depend on its material! This is actually important.

If you don't know what your product is called, there is a 99% chance you'll find a sticker on the product somewhere that says the name of the series (like LACK, MALM, BILLY, etc).

Search in inconspicuous places like underneath or on the back. Literally every production that is large enough is sold with a sticker on it.

In one case you know what your furniture piece is called, you need to head over to the IKEA website, look upward your product and check the materials.

Here is what to look for.

Laminate (aka plastic) looks like this:

How to find out if your IKEA furniture is made of laminate

Solid woods looks like this:

ikea solid wood bed and where to check on their website to see if the product is solid wood

Metallic looks like this:

ikea hallan metal steel furniture and how to find out if your IKEA furniture is made of metal

What is laminate?

You may be wondering what the heck laminate really is. You could google information technology, or y'all could only read on. I recommend you read on 'cause it'll be faster.

Remember how in elementary schoolhouse everything was laminated in plastic? Well it's the same affair.

Something that is laminated is essentially covered in plastic.

So, if your IKEA piece says it has a "clear acrylic lacquer", that means information technology's covered in plastic. Which means it'south laminated.

Laminate furniture is essentially a photograph of forest slapped onto a slice of particle board, covered with a clear plastic coating.

cross section example of a piece of laminate

Do I paint assembled or disassembled?

You lot are going to make your life a lot easier if you pigment your IKEA furniture when it's disassembled.

If you already know yous are going to paint your piece right off the bat when you buy it, then groovy. Don't assemble it!

Maybe y'all don't have time to disassemble, or you lot've had your piece so long that you lost the tools (I actually accept most 2 million different IKEA allen keys).

It's ok. You can nevertheless go ahead and paint.

You can cutting corners by non disassembling, but be warned that certain steps afterwards are going to accept you a bit longer.

Fourth dimension wise, in the cease it kind of evens out.

If yous choose to paint with your piece still assembled, you may need to mask off sure areas: you can do this with painter's tape to get clean lines and minimize the take chances of the paint bleeding where yous don't want it to.

Moral of the story: if your piece is already assembled, I would strongly suggest disassembling. You will get a more than professional person looking finish if you take the time to do this.

Do I need to sand my piece offset?

Should I sand my furniture before I paint?

It depends. This is a widely debated topic and so I volition tell yous what I know from my ain personal experience. I've been painting dissimilar types of furniture for about 20 years.

  • Painting metal does not technically require sanding (unless it's rusty), although some propose you to do so. If you want to sand your metal piece, start with an eighty grit piece of sandpaper for the rougher bits, so brand your style up to a 120 dust. The thought is that your paint will adhere better to the surface if you roughen upwards the metal. But primer will also assist with that then … yous decide!
  • If you are painting solid forest, then yes, yous should sand information technology. Sometimes people are a flake lazy (myself included) and don't sand. That'southward ok also. Information technology's upward to you. Simply I would recommend sanding solid wood.
  • If you're painting over laminate, so NO, sanding is not necessary. Contrary to what a lot of tutorials say out there, you don't HAVE to sand your laminate piece of furniture before painting … provided that y'all follow the right steps , which I cover below. To learn how to correctly paint IKEA laminate furniture without sanding, keep reading!

If you are sanding a solid wood slice, a practiced orbital sander will get the job done quickly.

Some orbital sanders like this one fifty-fifty come with a piffling vacuum/microfilter arrangement so that the dust gets sucked upwards as you lot get and prevents y'all from breathing it in. Pretty smashing!

What's a primer and exercise I need it?

Primer is basically a base coat of paint that prepares your surface for receiving the final finishing pigment. Information technology helps provide a smooth surface to pigment your last color on and helps with paint adhesion.

Some people alive life on the edge and skip the primer, and it doesn't even haunt them belatedly at dark.

Withal, I would propose you lot do Not skip priming your slice.

This shellac based primer is the one all the professional painters rave about:

  • it sticks to ALL surfaces WITHOUT SANDING, so information technology will work for laminate, solid wood and metal.
  • dries really quickly.
  • covers all odors, even nasty ones like true cat urine and stale smoke.
  • seals stains and knots and provides a perfect base of operations for your end paint.
  • works with ANY peak glaze.

So yous really cannot go wrong. I highly recommend you choose to apply this primer; if you do, then you lot tin skip the rest of the following information on primers.

NOTE: Brand certain you get SHELLAC BASE PRIMER !!!
zinsser primer is the best primer on the market!

If you don't plan on using the primer mentioned above, so you will need to keep the following things in mind:

  • If you lot're going to be painting with a h2o based latex pigment, then you must use a water based primer. Technically you lot can use an oil based primer and then paint on top with latex pigment, but just keep your life simple and make sure they lucifer.
  • If you are painting with an oil based finish paint, you lot must employ an oil based primer. No exceptions.

No matter what, you really need to use a primer. Don't skip this.

↓ QUICK TIP ↓

If your final pigment color is going to exist dark, ask the paint mixer to tint your primer. The tint tin can exist a greyish blue color, or yous can have it tinted to a similar color to your finish paint. This will help coverage, won't be every bit hard to conceal versus having a pure white primed base of operations, and thus volition crave fewer coats of your final color.

What kind of paint should I apply? Pros and Cons!

what kind of paint to choose when painting furniture
Wise Geek

And then by now you have learned that if yous become with the Zinsser Primer mentioned above, then you can cull any kind of paint you similar.

If yous have another kind of primer, check to see what kind it is and make certain to get the advisable type of pigment.

Pros and cons for the most popular types of paints for painting furniture.

H2o BASED

Pros:

  • Water based paints (latex, aka plastic) are popular because they emit fewer toxic fumes than oil based paints
  • They are easy clean upward as you simply need water
  • They dry quickly and are flexible
  • Will not yellow over time

Cons:

  • The disadvantage to painting furniture with water based latex paints is that you run the take chances that sometimes the paint won't bear every bit planned, which can upshot in stains and wood knot bleeding, which is disastrous (this has happened to me – I didn't prime number get-go). If you lot use primer, you should be able to avert this happening, notwithstanding water based primers are known to accept the same outcome (staining/haemorrhage).
  • Less durable than oil based paints

OIL BASED

Pros:

  • Oil based paints provide fantabulous durability
  • They cover any odors that may be stuck in your piece of furniture much better than water based paints

Cons:

  • The clean up is tiresome as you need mineral spirits or turpentine to clean your paint brushes as opposed to only water. If you don't clean your brushes with mineral spirits subsequently painting with oil based paints, you lot tin kiss your brushes cheerio once they dry
  • Oil based paint can yellow over time
  • Less flexible than latex water based paints, pregnant it can crack
  • Very strong odor during application
  • Longer drying times

CHALK Pigment

Pros:

  • Lends itself well to distressing for a "shabby" or vintage look
  • Some stunning furnishings can be achieved past layering chalk paints

Cons:

  • Visible castor strokes
  • Often requires multiple coats to go an even cease
  • Less durable than latex paint

Chalk paint technically does non require a primer ON SOLID WOOD. If you are painting laminate furniture with chalk paint, y'all volition still demand to prime beginning. You must seal piece of furniture painted with chalk paint with wax. All chalk paint is is latex pigment with pulverization mixed in – normally plaster of Paris.

Information technology is incredibly easy to DIY your own chalk paint if you don't desire to buy the fix-made stuff.

Larn more nigh how to chalk paint IKEA furniture hither.

Layered green chalk paint on an antique dresser
Salvaged Inspirations

SPRAY Paint

Pros:

  • Piece of cake to use
  • Even coverage, provided that information technology'southward practical properly
  • Dries chop-chop

Cons:

  • Can require multiple cans for a large project, which gets pricey
  • Hard to go fifty-fifty coverage on large pieces
  • Can baste if not sprayed properly
  • Strong odor during application

What are the best tools to apply my paint?

required painting tools for painting IKEA furniture

To pigment your article of furniture you can use whatever of the following:

  • spray gun
  • roller
  • synthetic or natural bristle brushes
  • foam brushes

Spray guns tin be tricky to utilise because you lot tin't merely dump the paint in the canister and spray – you need to thin your paint first. If yous don't get the paint consistency right, you will take a lot of problems getting your paint to spray properly – information technology won't come out at all if it'south as well thick, or will come up out in fat droplets if it's as well thick or thin. Cleaning your paint spray gun is also a massive hurting. But once yous get the hang of them they speed up the process significantly.

Rollers are handy and allow for lighting-fast pigment application. If y'all utilise a roller that is wider than the opening of your pigment tin can, you'll demand to remember to go a tray or something to put your paint in.

↓ QUICK TIP ↓

If you lot apply a paint tray, you can line information technology with plastic for super quick clean up.

Foam brushes are good and more often than not ensure polish application in terms of brush strokes. They are cheap and pretty much just good for 1 time use so you'll have to throw them away once yous're done. You could try to make clean them with h2o if you're using water based products but it may non be worth the effort.

Bristle brushes are my favorite method of application for painting furniture, but they sometimes tin lose a hair or two forth the manner. Exist sure to remove any devious beard immediately if you see any. Tweezers assist, or but pinch with your fingernails then bear on up with another stroke of paint. I adopt angled brushes to flat brushes as information technology allows for a more comfortable wrist position while I'm painting.

Brushes can come in natural bristles or synthetic bristles. Choose whichever you similar. Natural bristles can leave more obvious brush strokes whereas synthetic bristles generally provide a smoother awarding.

↓ QUICK TIP ↓

Don't make your life hard and purchase brushes that are likewise minor. Information technology will take you forever and will be incredibly frustrating. I recommend using a combination of tools when tackling piece of furniture painting projects: a roller for big surfaces and a couple of different sizes brushes for harder to reach areas or for areas similar grooves.

When you're done, you must make sure to clean your brushes appropriately based on the type of pigment you used. Water for water based paint, and turpentine/mineral spirits/paint thinner for oil based and shellac paints.

What should I use to seal my piece? Everything yous need to know about topcoats

Sealants, varnishes and top coats can be actually confusing. They're as well especially intimidating because they are the very last footstep after all the work yous've put in to repaint your piece.

If you get it wrong, you risk messing everything up. I accept done this and it sucks.

If yous're not sure what kind of topcoat to use, read on. It'south best to non have any doubts when choosing a topcoat.

One thing is for sure, and that is that you definitely want to use one. It will ensure that your piece and the pigment job underneath is protected from wear and tear.

POLYURETHANE

I recommend using water based polyurethane topcoats.

Oil based top coats will yellow over fourth dimension (similar to oil based paints!). You lot really don't want this happening, especially if you're sealing a very light or white piece.

↓ QUICK TIP ↓

Y'all CAN apply a h2o based tiptop coat over an oil based paint, yous just need to make sure the paint has dried completely before sealing.

My pinnacle recommendation for a water based sealant is Minwax Polycrylic (check links below to purchase).

You tin choose either a matte finish, semi gloss stop, a gloss cease or a satin finish.

You can use Minwax Polycrylic over both oil based and water based paints.

To exist safe, yous tin always test a minor patch in an inconspicuous expanse before finishing the whole piece.

WAX

If you painted your IKEA furniture with chalk paint, some say that the best way to go is past sealing with wax.

I would tend to disagree.

Wax sealed pieces give a squeamish velvety finish just are not as durable as pieces sealed with acrylic varnishes.

Wax is not a permanent finish, pregnant that information technology will need to be reapplied every and then oftentimes. The other tedious matter nigh sealing with wax is that if y'all always want to repaint your furniture, the wax MUST be removed otherwise your new paint will non adhere to the surface.

Removing the wax topcoat involves wiping everything down with mineral spirits and own't nobody got time for that.

If yous do want to seal with wax, I recommend Minwax Paste Finishing Wax in Natural.

But I would recommend using the Minwax Polycrylic Matte Poly finish instead.


At present that you know:

→ what your article of furniture is fabricated of

→ whether or non you need to sand and prime it

→ what type of paint to apply

→ how to utilize the paint

→ what kind of concluding topcoat to use …

y'all tin can finally become started!


I'thou non going to go into how to protect yourself from pigment fumes, or how to avert getting paint all over the place.

Employ common sense and stay safe.

Yous may also require bones tools like screwdrivers or a drill.

How to paint IKEA laminate piece of furniture

Painting laminate pieces is the trickiest surface to get right, then we'll start past talking near that one.

Tired of reading? Spotter my video instead 🙂

You can also lookout man me paint and transform this boring Kallax unit of measurement:

You hear a lot of horror stories about how information technology all went wrong and the paint started peeling off after ii days.

I assure y'all, your paint is not going to peel off if y'all follow these steps!

Because of the vast number of laminated (acrylic covered) IKEA products, it's likewise probably the most common scenario you'll meet if yous want to pigment IKEA furniture.

This method doesn't require sanding your piece earlier priming and painting. Some people swear by sanding every single layer in guild to become a perfectly pristine and smooth finish. Past all means, do this if yous want to, information technology certainly won't ruin any of your work! Decide if it's worth the effort and get for it if you feel like information technology's necessary 🙂

MATERIALS:

  • Shellac-base primer – I recommend this 1 from Zinsser (if yous missed the office about why it's awesome, so scroll back up!)
  • Sanding paper (optional)
  • Brushes, rollers or spray gun
  • Rag or paper towels
  • Paint
  • Topcoat
STEPS FOR PAINTING ON LAMINATE:
  1. Disassemble if yous tin can. If you tin can't detach, at to the lowest degree remove any hardware like knobs or pulls.
  2. Wipe downwardly your furniture with water and a clammy (not sopping wet!) paper towel or cloth. You desire to remove whatever dust, clay or residuum that can be removed so that information technology doesn't get trapped underneath the paint. Allow to dry out, it doesn't have long.
  3. Prime – usually just one glaze is needed. OPTIONAL: You can scuff the primer with sanding newspaper once it'south dry if you want just information technology'due south not really necessary. If you really desire to sand your primer, go ahead and practise it! Permit time to dry according to instructions on the product.
  4. Paint your piece. You may require multiple coats of paint – make sure you allow time to dry out in betwixt coats. OPTIONAL: You can sand between coats of paint if you lot want to! I recommend doing this if yous have visible drips, castor strokes or any small droppings defenseless in your paint. Sanding volition smooth all of that out.
  5. Once your furniture is completely dry, you can add together your topcoat. Allow time to dry according to instructions on the production.
  6. Reassemble if needed, and put dorsum all the hardware.

Cheque out the videos in a higher place if you missed them, they demonstrate a couple of my IKEA painting projects!! And below is an example of laminate furniture that I painted 1 summer for my mum. It'due south actually non an IKEA piece, it was only an old laminate dresser that my mum wanted to chuck out. Instead, I transformed information technology into a Tv set console for her, considering she needed one.

Lamentable about the messy photo, lol!

before and after painting on laminate furniture
Posh Pennies

It was really a super like shooting fish in a barrel transformation – I just removed the mirror, primed it with one coat of Zinsser (did not sand!!) and gave information technology four coats of a paint color that my mum picked out. It's similar a low-cal sage green but I don't think yous tin really tell from the photos? Anyways, the pigment used was just your regular, run-of-the-manufacturing plant indoor water-based latex pigment.

The matter I actually liked almost the original was the brass trim and handles; the slice itself was in neat condition – all it needed was an updated color!

How to paint IKEA solid wood furniture

Solid wood is more forgiving and in that location are many methods out there if y'all do some research.

I have tried many of these methods and have found the following to work best:

MATERIALS:

  • Sanding paper and a sanding block
  • Orbital sander (optional)
  • Rags or paper towels
  • Brushes, rollers or spray gun
  • Primer
  • Paint
  • Top coat
STEPS FOR PAINTING ON SOLID Wood:
  1. Disassemble if you can. If you tin can't disassemble, at least remove any hardware like knobs or pulls.
  2. Lightly sand your slice with either sanding newspaper or an orbital sander. Wipe abroad the sanding dust with water and a damp rag or newspaper towel.
  3. Prime – usually merely ane coat is needed. OPTIONAL: Yous tin can scuff the primer with sanding newspaper once information technology's dry if you want merely it's not really necessary. If yous really want to sand your primer, go ahead and do it! Allow time to dry out according to instructions on the product.
  4. Paint your piece. You may crave multiple coats of paint – make sure you allow time to dry in between coats. OPTIONAL: You can sand betwixt coats of paint if you want to! I recommend doing this if you have visible drips, castor strokes or any modest debris caught in your paint. Sanding will shine all of that out.
  5. Once your piece of furniture is completely dry out, you can add your top coat. Allow time to dry co-ordinate to instructions on the product.
  6. Reassemble if needed, and put back all the hardware.

How to paint IKEA metal article of furniture

To be honest, if I am going to spray paint a metal piece that isn't overly elaborate, I don't bother disassembling information technology.

However, I accept learned from experience that metallic DOES crave a primer and ideally a topcoat. Otherwise, the spray paint will just scratch off, even with the tiniest bump!

If your piece has any rust, or flaking or loose paint, you lot *will* need to sand information technology.

MATERIALS:

  • Scraper
  • Wire castor
  • eighty dust to 120 grit sanding newspaper
  • Orbital sander (optional)
  • Sponge
  • Rags or paper towels
  • Primer
  • Paint
STEPS FOR PAINTING ON Metal:

IF YOUR Slice HAS FLAKING OR PEELING PAINT:

  1. If your piece is flaking or peeling you must sand and remove all flaking paint. Use a scraper and a wire castor.
  2. Sand the slice starting with lx or eighty grit sanding paper and progressively make your way up to 120 grit.
  3. Wipe down your piece with a sponge and some h2o to remove all dust and rust particles. Allow to dry completely.
  4. Prime number
  5. Paint, may need several coats. Permit to dry out according to instructions on tin.

IF YOUR PIECE *DOES NOT* Have FLAKING OR PEELING PAINT:

  1. Requite your slice a quick clean with water and a clammy rag or newspaper towel.
  2. Prime
  3. Pigment it, it may require a few coats. Permit to dry according to instructions on tin.

Taking IKEA customization across just paint

Customized IKEA cabinets with updated paint, scalloped cabinet fronts, new legs and pulls
Superfront

There are a few companies out there that have become specialized in selling products specially fabricated for "ikea hacking". These companies mainly sell luxury looking products that you can add to your IKEA furniture to make them appear more custom and high end.

You lot can buy legs, pulls, fronts for your cabinets, geometric overlays, decals and even marble tops.

Here are a few to check out:


Superfront

Customized IKEA cabinets with updated paint, scalloped cabinet fronts, new legs and pulls
superfront

This Swedish company has a stunning range of Carrara marble tops, cabinet fronts, leather pulls, woods, brass and copper accessories and more.

If you live in Europe, you tin can purchase any of their products.

Us and Canada can merely purchase handles and legs at the moment.


Norse Interiors

Customized IKEA cabinets with updated navy paint, cabinet fronts and new legs.
norse interiors

Norse interiors makes wood tops, cabinet doors, panels, dresser drawer fronts and accessories like knobs, pulls and legs, for the Besta and Malm series.


Overlays

IKEA drawers customized with orange and pink paint and overlays on the drawers
overlays

Equally the name suggests, this company specializes in kits containing overlays for some of the well-nigh pop IKEA series, like Besta, Kallax, Malm and Pax and many more.

You can buy overlays to utilize on elevation of your furniture to give them a more than glamorous and personalized look. Nearly of the designs offered at the moment are geometric.

Check out their inspiration gallery for an thought of what yous can exercise with their products.


Pretty Pegs

custom ikea furniture add ons, custom legs
pretty pegs

Pretty pegs ships worldwide and sells legs, pulls and forepart layers for IKEA piece of furniture. They carry a truly impressive selection!


Behang Fabriek

decals for ikea furniture
behang fabriek

If you're into decals, this is the place to buy them. Their website is a piddling confusing, as they also sell wallpaper and the menu is a fiddling crazy. If you lot desire to see all the decals they sell specifically for IKEA piece of furniture, then just go hither directly.


Semihandmade

Custom IKEA cabinet fronts and hardware
semi handmade

This visitor carries a pretty decent selection of cabinet fronts for IKEA kitchen, bathroom and media storage units. As well a pocket-size selection of decorative hardware (pulls and knobs).


I hope this commodity gave you the confidence to tackle your next (or your first!) IKEA furniture painting project!

I'd beloved to hear what you get upward to, and I'm always available to respond whatever questions! Do non hesitate to drop me a comment below!

At present get painting, buddy! 😁

NEED SOME IKEA PAINTING INSPO? THEN YOU MIGHT Honey THESE Manufactures:

ten LITERALLY PERFECT Means TO HACK THE IKEA IVAR

17 HACKS TO COMPLETELY TRANSFORM YOUR KALLAX


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