old lacquered bedroom dresser – Painting wooden furniture is a standard project, that becomes more complicated when the piece already has a coating. For instance, you may have an old dresser that is already coated with lacquer, which is a material with many virtues, but you may find that the color is unappealing or that the finish has become damaged with time and use. When it comes to painting old lacquered bedroom dresser, you have a few options, each with different virtues and requiring different amounts of preparation.
How to Paint old lacquered bedroom dresser
Primer
Primer is designed in part to allow regular paint to stick to surfaces that it ordinarily would have difficulty with. Pull out the drawers and remove any drawer pulls, then sand the lacquer a bit to give it some grip for the primer. Clean the dresser to remove all dust. Apply a coat of primer, then wait for it to dry. Paint the dresser with your colored paint. Primer is the quick and easy method, but may not be the best choice if the lacquer underneath is peeling, cracked or otherwise flawed, as the primer will only partially conceal this.
Removing Lacquer
If the lacquer on the furniture is damaged or you simply want to start off with a fresh surface to paint on, consider removing the lacquer from the dresser first. Apply lacquer thinner to the dresser, then wait for it to soften or liquify. Then wipe off the lacquer with a rag or gently scrub with fine steel wool. You can also use a stiff plastic brush to get lacquer out of any curved or decorative areas. This process needs to be done outside or in a well-ventilated area. The thinner evaporates quickly, so work on a small area at a time, like a couple of drawers at once, rather than applying thinner to the entire dresser. The dresser can then be painted.
Protective Coating
Paint is not as durable as lacquer. Bare paint on furniture can become damaged, and if you place objects on painted furniture, it’s possible for the objects to become embedded into the paint over time or for paint to transfer. Protect your work with a clear topcoat of a substance like polyurethane. This is particularly important for the top of the dresser, where you might add decorative or useful objects, or for the insides of the drawers if you decide to paint them. Be sure to protect the sides of drawers if you paint them, as well, to avoid stuck drawers.
Painting with Lacquer
Rather than use paint, you can get the same kind of look using colored lacquer. Painting with lacquer is more complex than using regular paint. However, it adheres well to itself, so you don’t need to prepare other than some basic cleaning, and lacquer can be applied in very thin layers to good effect, and so any carvings or details in the wood will show up better with a lacquer coating than they would with paint. You can still remove the underlying layers of lacquer for a fresh surface, just like paint. Lacquer can be sprayed or brush onto the dresser.