Thread: Buffet to be painted white OMG!

Tell Wifey that painted furniture is beneath you, then give her an Ikea catalogue.

Originally Posted by cjbfisher

Tell Wifey that painted furniture is beneath you, then give her an Ikea catalogue.

In reality this is how it went:
Wife: I want to replace the buffet with this one from Ikea.
Me - tried to talk her into waiting until I can build one.
Wife has many virtues but patience is not on the list. I know I am glacial with woodworking and hate to do my hobby to a deadline so I can't really argue this point.
I tired the "we can't afford it" (which is true) but she says she will pay for it herself.
Eventually I cave in.
Very reluctantly we go to Ikea. Mostly against my will.
Get to the end of the whole thing and it turns out item is not in stock.
After another 2 weeks of reflection, wife agrees that she can wait until I build one, provided it is the next project on the list. (I have a few others I have already started).

Hence your suggestion would see us right back in Ikea.

It is not that painted furniture is beneath me. It is more a case that I'd like to develop some skills and knowledge.
However I could stop being such a precious and grumpy old man I suppose. If I really have to.

melamine MDF

Yep a job for a weekend melamine coated particle board iron on edging, you won't even have to paint it.

Dear wife has explained what the problem with a timber look is.
The floor is T&G timber flooring. So she doesn't want too many other surfaces to be timber as well.
She likes white because it makes the room feel more spacious.
So now I learnt something about interior decorating and I'm surprised to discover it is all very logical. Who knew?

I'm having a go to see if I can convince dear wife that Silver Ash counts as white. So that the body would be painted pine and the top Silver Ash. (Which she will probably cover with some white runner anyway).

You might want to check with her if white paint is even the finish she is after. I would suspect that she would actually want two-pac which would even further change how you plan to construct the unit.

I think paint is one of the most difficult finishes to get looking ‘professional’. I’d wait on Ikea - or try one of the other similar types of stores (Freedom Furniture?). Then you can retire happily to the shed and get on with not doing the things you like.

Brian

Originally Posted by homey

I think paint is one of the most difficult finishes to get looking ‘professional’. I’d wait on Ikea - or try one of the other similar types of stores (Freedom Furniture?). Then you can retire happily to the shed and get on with not doing the things you like.

Brian

That would be the intelligent thing to do. However if we spend $400 on Ikea then that is $400 I don't have available to spend on a project.

Make it out of mdf.
Just be careful about the potential to sag. Design around that.
Fill the cut edges with spackle or something similar. Sand off.
Buy the legs from IKEA or similar.
Spray with a high build primer - as might be used for automotive finishes.
Sand lightly.
Then spray with white acrylic lacquer.
Then buff with automotive cut and polish.
This will give you a beautiful finish. Silky smooth and feeling like 2pack.

Very quick to do.

Brush painting, enamel paints etc will be awful.

Ok, first of all, what Sir Stinkalot said: women want 2pac, it's just a fact of life. If she doesn't now it's probably because she doesn't know about it, make sure she doesn't see it anywhere because then she will want it.

2nd, kitchens are a bit of a nightmare to install if you haven't done it before and especially if the house is a little old or doesn't have too many straight lines (most don't).
I haven't done it on my own but I did help a friend who does it professionally and it was unbelievable how many adjustments and planing he had to do on the spot and how much experience it takes just to align the doors and get them to close properly.
There's more to it than it seems.

3rd, ikea kitchens are bad (IMO) avoid if you can afford it and go to a proper kitchen maker. If you can't or don't want to maybe pick some other cheaper option, ask around, shop around.

Another cheap(er) option, if your existing kitchen is structurally sound, is to simply have it professionally spray painted (that's what we did). They took the doors away and painted them, and for everything that can't be taken away they attached new panels on top.
It's not cheap but if done properly it's really as good as new. There's also a mob that can cut out hollow ceasar stone benchtops and attach them on top of existing benchtops for half the price of a solid ceasarstone. Again, that's what we did (in two houses) and it turned out great.

Generally I agree with your wife that wooden kitchens can get tiring to the eye after a while. I'd save my creativity for the TV unit, that's a much more versatile option and a lot you can do with it with solid timber.

It's not quite a buffet but I did 2 toy/storage boxes in MDF with what I believe to be pine top. The 'pine' was salvaged shelving from a built in closet from a building about 30 years old and came out quite nice, it's finished with an oil based poly so it's looking a lot more honey colored than the raw timber. The sides are 16mm MDF with a groove and 6mm MDF panel inserted. The base is 16mm melamine particle board rebated into the 'Shaker style' panels - I had offcut boards that fit the bill, so went with it. There is a pine lipping around the top of the box so that the MDF won't start crumbling after some abuse. White with timber top is quite the 'in' thing right now and perhaps rightly so, it does look very nice, to my eyes anyway.

If you had to do a whole painted buffet, honestly I'd suggest MDF or other sheetgoods. It'll be cheaper than solid timber, generally easier to work with, you can pretty much ignore wood movement issues if it is MDF or particle board, and while it won't be heirloom furniture it will still last many many years. I used rolled on satin sheen acrylic wall paint on these boxes because that's what I had plenty of lying around. Would I recommend this finish? Probably not for a larger stand out piece like a buffet - without spraying there will always be the texture from the roller, however fine or brush marks. And the paint itself is fine for the wall but not something that is constantly getting handled, so I would certainly agree with Arron's finish recommendations.

Building with MDF took very little time. Finishing took forever and a day. Sand all the parts lightly (super light to avoid ripping up the bare MDF) to give it some tooth, assemble, fill in any gaps, sand down filler once dry, 1st coat of Zinsser BIN primer, sand down rough and hard bits, 2nd coat of primer, sand down, 1st coat of paint, sand, 2nd coat, sand, 3rd coat, done. Yea, it takes awhile. The main downside to working with sheet goods, especially MDF and particle board is that the dust is particularly nasty, so good dust collection and working cleanly are pretty important. Another avenue you could explore is to visit your local My Plywood or specialist sheetgoods store. For a small fee they'll cut precisely to your specs so you can do the joinery on smaller, easier to handle panels. If you wanted an ultra glossy, hard wearing 2pak finish, the same guys who refinish kitchen cabinets will usually be happy to quote you on finishing your newly assembled buffet.

Strength wise, I can sit on this box without fear and it has no internal bracing beyond the glue and brad nails holding it together.

toy box.jpg

BTW when I said buffet I mean as in a sideboard. Which in our case sits in the lounge because there isn't enough room in the dinning area. Sorry if I caused any confusion. Let's call it a sideboard from now on for clarity.

I will be definitely making it out of solid wood unless the finances can't be found. Of course I'll probably use ply for the back etc. but I mean solid wood for all visible parts.

The current sideboard is melamine which has been painted a shade of blue. I tried to persuade dear wife that it could simply be painted white. However apparently that isn't good enough. To be honest, I haven't grasped why but it's something about it being too chunky or masculine or something like that. Not my forte.

For example, the doors are to be either glass or mirrors in a frame. And since I have never made a frame that is going to be a challenge all on its own.

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Aaahhh ok, sideboard, sorry, I got confused

Yeah I don't know why you'd have to paint that, I've seen some very nice timber ones.

Originally Posted by DaveVman

I will be definitely making it out of solid wood unless the finances can't be found. Of course I'll probably use ply for the back etc. but I mean solid wood for all visible parts.

please don't.
MDF is more than appropriate for what your wife wants.

the doors are to be either glass or mirrors in a frame. And since I have never made a frame that is going to be a challenge all on its own.

If don't already have one, this is a perfect excuse to buy a domino, or if the budget won't stretch that far a quality (DeWalt or Makita) biscuit jointer.

Post the Ikea photo and we can discuss how to build it and build your skills at the same time.