Painting Your Oak Mantel White!

by Skinnypig

5 Materials

$60

3 Days

Easy

Some say that it's a sin to paint over oak wood, but since I have oak hardwood floors that led right into my oak wood mantel, I wanted to break it up for a fresher and brighter feeling in my family room!

I found there wasn't a lot of online posts or videos about painting oak specifically, but I did find a few tips here and there, so below is a combination of everything that I did!

Before

Step 1: Remove everything off your mantel and wipe clean!

Step 2: Lightly sand! I used 120 grit and 100 grit sandpaper. For all the grooves and detail, I found it was helpful to use a sanding block. (all sanding items I used were bought from the dollar store). Carefully wipe clean all the dust after sanding so you don't get a gritty paint finish!

Step 3: Tape your mantel (Frog Tape) and Prime! I used the Zinsser Cover Stain Oil based Primer Sealer (brown can) - recommended by others online as it helps fill in some of the grains from the Oak wood, as well as providing a better surface for the paint to stick to. I only did 1 coat of primer, possibly could have used 2, but it seemed to do the job!

*Note: this primer is quite strong smelling so ensure you have the windows open and use a mask if you want to.

Step 4: After 3 coats of paint and removing the frog tape!! Voila! Use as many coats as needed to get the opaqueness you like. (Paint used: Home Depot CIL DUO Paint & Primer, just the regular white)

I would allow at least an hour dry time in between, but I did mine over different days and weekends when I had time.

*Note: it is KEY to buy a nicer paint brush so that you don't see brush strokes!