Yes, You Can Paint Laminate!

After rescuing an abandoned cabinet, the ugly laminate cabinet gets a new look & new life as a built-in!
**I buy old, ugly, and neglected houses & flip them all by myself! It's a crazy house-flipping them, so come follow along at my blog, The Bachelorette Pad Flip: https://bachelorettepadflip.com/
Step 1: This abandoned cabinet was FREE on Craig's List. It was an ugly orange laminate, but it had potential! But if you've ever tried painting laminate, you know it can be really difficult! But there's a really easy, inexpensive way to paint any laminate "wood."
Step 2: By creating a wall, the random cabinet became a built-in in a laundry room severely lacking storage! But it was still ugly!
Step 3: Without sanding or priming, apply chalk paint. The chalk paint you choose to use is up to you, but we're a fan of Waverly. But just because you're painting it with chalk paint doesn't mean that's it! The chalk paint adheres really well to laminate and doesn't scrape off, so the chalk paint becomes your "primer" or base layer.
Step 4: After applying one coat of chalk paint, use a high gloss latex cabinet paint to give it two full coats. After two coats, the laminate no longer looks faux material & has a brushless appearance!
Step 5: For the cost of two paints (around $20) and a couple hours, this FREE cabinet looks totally different!
The Bachelorette Pad Flip
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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  • Sharon Clark Sharon Clark on Jul 22, 2017

    Love the cabinet, My kitchen cabinets are dark brown from the 70's and some of the doors at the top or bottom edges have bits of the laminate strip either loose or missing. What is the best way to fix this before painting?

  • Cheryl Royer Cheryl Royer on Sep 13, 2018

    I have fiber board made kitchen and bath cabinets that have other faux wood

    Also, they are dark, dark brown and I want sage green. Can I do your process

    on these cabinets?

  • Billie Billie on Apr 20, 2022

    Can a laminate counter be painter as well, your cabinets look great

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  • Giselle Giselle on Aug 23, 2016
    Great job! Thanks for the tips on painting!
  • William William on Nov 09, 2019

    Rose. You need to use at least three coats of a water based polyurethane to protect the paint and finish when using regular paint.

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