Sometimes we have a melamine cabinet at home that is in good condition but that over the years has become outdated either because of its color or its appearance. At that moment the doubt arises: can you paint a melamine cabinet? How could I update it? How can you give it a fresh look?
I am quite satisfied with the result that the lmelamine bookcases that I bought several years ago but over time I’ve gotten tired of the color they had (mostly birch), so I’ve been painting them to adapt them to the decoration of different rooms at home. I’ve painted melamine furniture with spray (result here) and with tile paint (result here) and now I wanted to try homemade blackboard paint or chalk paint.
For this I used a library Birch colored Ikea Billy and I gave it several layers of homemade chalkboard paint (you can see how it is done here). In the following image you can see the final result, often change right?
In this case I have not sanded the surface, I only cleaned the melamine with methylated spirit to remove traces of dust and dirt, then I applied multiple coats of chalkboard paint (in this case four). The number of layers will depend on the background color of the melamine and the color chosen for the paint. In any case, the process is quite fast since the blackboard paint can be painted over an hour later. This chalk paint can be applied both with a brush and with a roller, in this case I used a foam roller.
Once we have given all the necessary layers and the paint is dry, a layer of clear varnish or wax (in this case wax was applied) to protect the paint. Keep in mind that if we apply this protection, the paint will lose its chalkboard properties, so don’t do it if you later want to write on the furniture with chalk.
I lined the back with remains of painted paper in black and silver, in this way, in addition to giving the bookcase a renewed and modern look, it also enhanced its decorative effect. of a single melamine cabinet in birch color we had changed to a black and white piece of furniture ideal for a Nordic style and modern environments.
Finally I lined the shelves with self adhesive vinyl white. They can also be painted like the rest of the furniture because the blackboard paint is very resistant, but since I was going to put some wooden boxes, I preferred to put the vinyl because the wooden boxes would slide better on it.
In the following image you can see the final result in more detail.
Sometimes you don’t need great skills or a lot of money to transform a simple melamine piece of furniture in a more current one. The cost of the blackboard paint that I needed was about 5 euros (including the carpenter’s glue and the proportional part of the plaster and pigment) and the vinyl and wallpaper are remnants that I had left over from other tunings. What I can assure you that is priceless is the personal satisfaction of seeing it finished and saying «hey, I did it», which will be more or less fine, with some small flaws, but what is certain is that we have achieved completely change the look and take advantage of this small library.
On the other hand, all these steps can be followed with other types of furniture, such as painting a melamine cabinet, or a sideboard, or a table, etc.
What did you think of the before and after this melamine cabinet? If you are bored or bored with your melamine furniture, I encourage you to tune them, surely you will not regret it.
