painting laminate furniture

I introduced my new little design adventure yesterday, Ampersand Interiors, and now I'm going to show you some before and afters of some of the pieces I made in the booth (at 5th Avenue Antiques, y'all). 

First I'll introduce you to sad little mid-century modern side table. How miserable he was with his discolored laminate top and chipped side legs..

and a little bit cuter, but only from afar, ol' chipped mid-cent dresser. Yep, I abbrev-ed mid-century. And abbreviated. 

He had a laminate top as well.

I researched how to paint laminate, and I'm going to let you in on my findings. First up was to wipe the entire piece down so it's free of dust and grim. Then remove the hardware. 

Yeah, this guy looks pretty much the same wiped down..

After researching several tutorials, the consensus from most was to use Kilz Primer. You KNOW how much I love to use spray primer, but I felt like I should break out the roller for this project since these were pieces of furniture that would have stuff constantly sitting on the top surface (rather than something like a lamp or doodad that wouldn't see much traffic/handling). 

Before you prime, go over the surface with a block sander (that's what that black block is in the picture below). I got a fine/medium grit and went over all the surfaces I was painting on the furniture.

A random tip: I lined my paint tray with aluminum foil so that I could reuse it without have to clean paint out of it.

I primed them outside. I rolled the primer over the surfaces I was going to paint, and I did a second coat on the top of both pieces. Of course I forgot to take one of the small table during this step.. On both, I used a 1" brush to get the primer on places the roller wouldn't reach.

Did you know Pantone's Color of the Year this year is Emerald? It inspired me to paint this little pup Rust-oleum Meadow Green.

Since it's been so long from my last tutorial, I shall repeat: 

Light even layers of paint!

 See how SUPER light this first coat is? Believe me, I know how hard it is to stop with only this tiny bit of paint, but you must step back and let it dry for a bit. Also, constantly keep your hand moving. If you hold it in one position, the paint will glob up and drip, then you'll have to sand it down and start over. The horror!  

I probably did about 10 layers. Luckily I was working on the other piece as well so I could make myself drop the green can and go pick up the white one.

 While I sprayed this big boy, I wrapped the legs in foil. It saved me from having to tape it off with painters tape.

We had quite the project city going on in the front yard.

My roommate Kate is getting married, and she was making stuff for her wedding while I painted. Check out those awesome corn hole boards! 

Gah, I love a good craft day. 

After the bajillion layers of paint. See how nicely it filled in?

Oooo wee, I dig him!

I feel like he's a little irish looking with his shiny gold handle.

And this bad boy.. don't get me started. It took all I had not to squeeze him into my room. 

I wiped some Howard Restor-a-Finish over the drawers and legs with an old cut up tshirt. 

I love the way he turned out.

Yeah, stare into the sun, you gorgeous thing, you. 

After they dried thoroughly overnight, I loaded them up and put them in the booth!

Go check em out y'all! 

If you adopt one of these puppies, I'd love to see it in your space!