Painting wood with emulsion??

[thebluehen]

I have found a paint I love (see attached photo) and I also have a dado rail. It only comes in emulsion though. Can I paint the dado rail with emulsion? It is currently painted in white gloss. Do I sand back and then prime with something and then paint with emulsion? If so, what do I prime with?

Get it made up in gloss ? Any decorators merchant will be able to do it plus the chains

Yes. Just paint some onto paper, take it to B&Q or a decorators' merchants and they will scan it and make it up in any finish you want.

Link - Link to picture of paint which didn't show in original post

I have used chalk paint to paint over glossed/varnished wood as a base for whatever I was putting on next. It saves sanding. Also keeping the gloss paint on should help at least to stop any knots showing through which they are more likely to do if you sanded it.

I'm sitting pondering exactly the same thing. Seems a faff to do the dado rail in something different, and it's not like it's a whole door or anything. I'm undecided...

I'd use it - wouldn't be good on doors or any surface that gets a lot of wear, but dados don't get much.

If you go down the emulsion route I would suggest using a varnish to protect it. The professional decorator I follow on instagram uses Smith and Rodger Rocktop multi surface clear coat on the handrails on banisters to protect them. I haven't used it personally but she applies it over a water based eggshell.

To get anything to adhere to gloss paint you need to sand back to remove the shine, then I would use a primer or undercoat, then the emulsion then a protective coating. You can buy sanding sponges that will squidge around the profile of the dado.

You can risk it with no prep but there are plenty of videos of chipped or peeling paint due to incorrect prep. I have personally been decorating for the last 35 years.

I would lightly sand the rail to provide a good key then paint straight on, it’ll likely adhere ok. As to how long it’ll stay looking ok? Completely depends on how much contact it gets. Colour matching an eggshell or Matt finish woodwork paint over a primed surface will undoubtedly be harder wearing but it might not matter. I’d try the emulsion and see how it fares first.

I wanted to do something similar last year, so got a small tin of satinwood paint made up. The colour match is perfect and much nicer than a gloss finish.

Get it colour matched and get some eggshell made up.

It’ll be fine. I’ve done doors, radiators, picture rails in emulsion and they’re totally fine. Give a light sand

We had this in dds room. She has some mdf shelves in there and I didn't want to buy an extra tin of paint just for that. It was a vinyl emulsion paint though. We undercoated shelves, painted the colour and added one layer of matt varnish. If it doesn't last well we'll buy the right paint and re-do them. If it's not going to get touched then it will be fine in emulsion but do at least sand first.

Yes, you need to sand it and prime it first to make the emulsion adhere to the existing gloss. Just a multi surface primer should be fine. Absolutely no problem and it will look much better than in gloss - I don't really understand why anyone would paint a dado rail in gloss or even eggshell! MDF wall panelling is a big trend currently and people paint that and the surrounding wall with emulsion as it's supposed to look seamless.

Unless you varnish after painting, emulsion on wood (& especially if on top of un-sanded gloss) will wear off just by looking at it.