Bleed Through When Painting Furniture
If you love to update old furniture with paint then most likely you have run into a common problem with bleed through. Of course it does not happen until the end of your project when you think are almost done!😭
With my latest dresser this was the problem.
So I started out with this beautiful antique dresser. I did all my prep work which included cleaning really well with TSP. Since I knew I wanted to go lighter I had a feeling bleed through was going to happen.
So if you've ever used an oil based primer you know it's not always fun. It's pretty watery and it dries very fast which can sometimes be hard to apply. If I could get away with using water-based I would, but I knew this was not going to be easy. I put a thin coat on the dresser and and the insides of the drawers.
After my first application of the shellac I went ahead and I painted (chalk paint) and then sealed with polycrylic. Unfortunately, the shellac did not quite do its job and I ended up with bleed through pretty bad.
Instead of painting the whole piece black like I was tempted 🙄😂, I grabbed a can of this spray shellac. I would suggest you doing this outside in a well-ventilated area.the good thing about spray is that it was easy to control and I could just cover the areas that had bled through. Problem with the spray is that honestly it is expensive. I ended up covering all of the insides of the drawers, and the dresser itself. It used one and a half cans total.
I went ahead and put a thin coat of paint over the shellac again and then sealed once more with polycrylic.
It totally did the trick! It's not easy to cover up such dark wood with a bright white.. especially with the tannins wanting to come out through the paint.
I was able to finish painting without any more issues. It's exactly the look that I was wanting.
Comments
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Yes, its a pretty maddening problem.👍🏻
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I have always use Kilz Primer and never have had a problem with bleed thru.
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Then you have been very lucky. I use a variety of brands and products. My goal is to find what works the best and easiest. So far this has been my favorite.
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