Thread: Old wardrobe - how do I paint over varnish?

If it is actual varnish, then it's not that bad to paint over.
You will need to make sure it is clean, i.e. cleaned of all dust in grooves and corners, and you'll need to scuff the surface to dull it, take the gloss off, and to give subsequent coats of whatever you wish some 'tooth' to grip onto.

You can use a green scotchbrite scouring pad to do the scuffing, or get a maroon or grey one from a hardware store (finer scratches).

You can also get a product from Flood company called ESP which is supposed to help paint stick, but I'm not sure how good that'll be if you're trying to put a waterbased cheap paint over a varnish which was oil-based.

You'd be better with an oilbased paint (enamel), or else use a better quality oil-modified acrylic undercoat which can go under or over either type of paint successfully. Then use the cheap acrylic paint.

Be aware that some cheap paints are cheap for a reason-they are junk- as are some of the 'housebrand' types. Others aren't too bad.

Hope that helps!

You describe your wardrobes as shabby. How so?
Is the varnish cracked, crazed and rough to touch ?

I've never considered painting over varnished woods but I can easily imagine someone stating it's hard to paint over a cracked finish.

Pictures would help.

And to reinforce Stewey's comment. Cheap paint is often junk.

Cheap paint costs more in the long run, more coats, more time and more grief,...not worth the supposed "cost" savings.

Hardware stores often have cans of mistinted paint available,..I am sure you could pick up something that way if you were patient or went to enough hardware stores.

As stated, light sand, good dust and off you go. My opinion would be that it would cost a lot more to spray a wardrobe with tins rather than paint by hand/roller etc with a tin of paint.

Hi all,
Thanks for the replies. To elaborate by cheap paint i meant monetary value not quality, ie miss-tints etc
Shabby - refer to images. The wood around the bottom where the wardrobe sits on the ground is mdf and has been wet so falling apart, structurally they are a bit wonky etc (i can fix most of this with bits laying around)
Aesthetically (varnish condition)- on some edges it is worn to the wood, on the fronts and sides it is warn a long way down and feels rough. Oher sections are still in good condition. Lots of marks from stickers or something.

Personally I would remove the as much if not all of the varnish as I could. The moulding will be troublesome and even tiresome to do.

Then give a coat of undercoat or two to ensure coverage is good then give one coat of a good paint for the final coat.

I am not sure if yoy have a recycle center but that's where I would look for paint. This might be a little bit of a long shot, the Salvos or a charity organization might come across something or even a garage sale. Rock up to one and ask them.

Whatever you use, make sure you ventilate well and keep away from young kids especially when you don’t know what solvents are used. Some paints can continue to give off fumes even when the coating is dried.

Sand to smooth over any scratches,use ESP follow directions (it works well) undercoat then paint,satin enamel gives a good hard finish better than acrylic,

Thanks for the info guys...
I stopped by A local paint store that sells miss tints and it's quite a but dearer than I hoped.
- Paint is about $35 for 4 liters. I would buy 4lt of water based for the insides and 4lt of flat enamel for outside, say $70
- undercoat of zinsser (I forget which product) but 1lt is $34 or 4lt is $80? I would need atleast 2lt.
Plus sandpaper, solvent to wash down etc etc
I looked at ESP is was close to $30 for a can and have heard mixed reviews.
Realistically at this price I'm better if buying wardrobes.

If I was to rub the wardrobe down so it was keyed and dull then clean with something could I paint enamel straight over and how well would it hold?
Also cub I just paint the inside with water based paint, it appears to be in it's natural state?

The wardrobes have a yuck smell to them from dirty or soiled clothes, I'm hoping the paint will seal it in???

You don't need anywhere 8 liters to do that job,I would guess that one may be enough and you may even have some over.

1lt really enough, I think I would need atleast 2 to give enough coverage in enamel and probably more in water based?
Two wardrobes 1.9h x 1.2w x 50d (rough measurments) Also going from dark to a light colour in enamel so multiple coats. Roughly 9sqm of painting surface for enamel.
The inside i was going to do in water based paint because it stinks less and would also include painting of the outer side of the back and possibly inside of doors... Thus more surface area.

I hadn't figured out the meters square however as you stated it's not many considering 1lt of Zinsser is rated at 12sqm and Solver/Dulux/Taubmans was maybe 14sqm per liter.

I have spray painted cars and you can water the paint down with thinners, would I do the same with this to het those figures quoted on the can or does the paint simply spread that far?

Also, to rub the stain back what grade of sandpaper should I use and us it ok to use the same grit on my orbital sander for larger flat areas?

Thanks, really appreciate the help!

I had some water based paint left over and needed to paint a wall. So I watered down the second coat to get it done. Only added a small amount and was a little short but it did cover most of the wall. The paint was very thin as a result but did not matter.

I was covering light colour with light colour.

As you mention with those prices you could be buying new cabinets or at least one.

In terms of sandpaper I would avoid the cheaper 2 dollar stores. That is the ones that come in packets of 10 with 5 different grades. I would start at 120 grit and then jump to 180grit to finish. If you want to be more aggressive to remove the varnish then you could start with 80grit. This will leave scratches and you will need more time on the 120grit.

To paint the inside I am not sure if this is necessary. You could try bi-carb soda in the cabinet to remove the smell. This is one of the ingredients for carpet deodorant.

I think Christos has it correct. It's a good dictum that you can't successfully paint gloss on to gloss and it's also a good idea not to paint water based on to oil based finishes.

If bubbles and streaks and unfinished bits appear when you start painting then you are in trouble with incompatibility in the finishes you are using. No good going any further if this happens.

I'd be going for the application of good quality oil based undercoat, probably two coats, followed by an oil based top coat. You need to get a complete opaque cover with the undercoat in my limited experience in this area of trade before you apply the top coat.

A lot easier if you get the undercoat tinted to match the top coat
.

Good luck Old Pete

Originally Posted by Christos

Personally I would remove the as much if not all of the varnish as I could. The moulding will be troublesome and even tiresome to do.

Then give a coat of undercoat or two to ensure coverage is good then give one coat of a good paint for the final coat.

I am not sure if yoy have a recycle center but that's where I would look for paint. This might be a little bit of a long shot, the Salvos or a charity organization might come across something or even a garage sale. Rock up to one and ask them.