what to paint Ikea not wood wardrobes with?

[shabbadab]

We have a large quite old Ikea wardrobe in a small box study room which has large blue panels on the drawer fronts and wardrobe fronts. I am refurbing the room and wondered what sort of paint I could potentially cover up the dark blue with and he it would wear well or if I would be better just trying to add dark blue into the new scheme and leave them as is (but would it make room look smaller and small already)?

[mineallmine]

I painted my birch veneer-type wardrobes cream quite a few years ago and they're still going strong. I cleaned the surfaces well, rubbed them with ESP (easy surface preparation) undercoated and gave them 2 top coats. It was a bit time consuming but very worth it.

[WookieCookiee]

mine what did you top coat with? Wood paint? (Or whatever the term is)

[thornrose]

What about an all surface primer, it works on melamine and virtually any difficult to paint surface.

[AnythingNotEverything]

You could use chalk paint. Annie Sloan stuff and wax is dead easy to use. No prep required. Just slap it on.

[missmargot]

Chalk Paint is good on any surface and doesn't require any prepping, I always go for the lazy option.

[80sMum]

Chalk paint is not durable and would need sealing to protect it, either with wax or varnish.

If you prepare the surface well, you can use any satin or gloss paint as the top coat. To prime a surface like melamine (I assume the panels aren't wood) use a good quality all-surface primer, such as Zinsser Coverstain, or a specialist melamine primer, then paint as for wood, i.e. undercoat plus one or two top coats.

[80sMum]

Forgot to mention that of course the surface should be thoroughly cleaned before priming.

[erin99]

We've had a v durable finish using allpurpose primer and old fashioned undercoat and topcoat, and also with kitchen cupboard paint, both on melamine.

Painting the unit to blend(ish) with the walls should help the room look bigger.

[mineallmine]

I undercoatrd and then gave them 2 coats of farrow and ball eggshell this was before they changed their eggshell formula so don't know if the new one is as good.

[shabbadab]

Great. Thanks for the tips. Glad to hear it has had good durability results as I was concerned that it might chip easily. Any advice on brush types to prevent brush marks? Thanks.

[mineallmine]

Just buy a very good quality brush that won't shed hairs into your paintwork. There are no brushmarks on my wardrobes so I reckon that must be down to the paint used. It definitely wasn't my great skill, that's for sure!