Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Need to Paint Old Desk - Totally Clueless

I have a desk that I have had for over a decade that no longer matches my decor. It is a mass produced piece that looks like all or parts may be real wood but It might be particle board with wood laminate or something.

Anyways, i'd like to paint it black. What should I do? Can I just paint right on it, or do I have to take the finish off, or just sand it a bit? What kind of paint should I use so it wont feel gummy? I saw a dresser my friend painted and the drawers stuck and it was gummy to the touch and it was a mess. How well would spray paint work?

I know next to nothing about this subject so any instruction would be appreciated.

Welcome to the forums

Assuming that the desk has a wood veneer and not a plastic laminate [which is harder to get paint to stick to] you should sand lightly and then prime with a solvent based primer - sticks better than latex.

I would recoment using an oil base finish - waterborne would be fine too. I suspect your friend painted with latex which seldom dries hard enough, the cheaper brands are even worse.

Spray cans will work but because each can has such a small amount of thinned down paint, it would take a lot of cans to get both good coverage and enough paint applied to make a good wearing coating.

okay so i got some oil based enamel, sanded it and painted one coat. The drawers turned out nicely but there are a few places on the body of it where it is bumpy or uneven (too many strokes?) and some places where a hair from my brush got dried into the paint.

Can I sand this stuff out a bit and put on another coat and have it be beautiful? or did I mess up

Yes they should sand out. It is always a good practice to sand between coats - helps to minimize brush marks or any other imperfections.

Hello Folks,

Not to hijack this thread, but I have an old office desk (particle board and some kind of gray laminate top).

How do I go about painting that one? I was wondering if you see any paint brush strokes later on and was thinking of using paint cans - but the comment earlier in the previous post makes it clear that that is not the way to go.

Would you sand the painted desk and then finish with a clear lacquer to get rid of strokes? What paint is best used on these laminate desks?

Thanks a bunch!

William

Welcome to the forums William!

Brush marks can be reduced [maybe eliminated] by use both good coatings and a quality brush. If you have a hard time brushing you could use a 1/4" nap roller on the top. It will leave a little orange peel like texture.

Lacquer isn't compatible with a lot of coatings. A quality enamel won't need any extra protection.