I’ve had a white desk for a year but it doesn’t match the oak furniture in my room, I want to paint it but I am unsure about the correct steps as I have come across conflicting advice? thanks
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2If you want it to look oak like, you do not want paint. Can go cheap and use self sticking paper/film that looks like oak, or use veneer glue downed, sanded and finished. The oak veneer is what is probably on most of your furniture now, unless you have real oak(expensive) furniture.– crip659Commented Jul 31, 2023 at 12:40
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3Paint will get you close in color, but won't give you any texture or the "pattern" of wood. You may only be interested in color, which is fine, and in which case paint may be fine. But you may find that high-wear spots allow the white to show through eventually.– HuesmannCommented Jul 31, 2023 at 12:42
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2If the furniture is melamine- or laminate-coated, not painted already (quite possible in modern furniture) then paint will have a hard time sticking. Lots of sanding to get the glossy finish off and then priming will be necessary.– TriplefaultCommented Jul 31, 2023 at 12:45
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2Don't try to remove the white - the wood underneath will be manufactured chipboard and will look awful. The quick and lazy answer is a tablecloth on top.– CriggieCommented Aug 1, 2023 at 1:26
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1 Answer
White Ikea is almost certainly white melamine. That surface will have to be sanded to have any hope of paint sticking.
It's possible to achieve an "Oak" faux finish by painting, (sometimes referred to as "graining" since you are literally painting the "wood grain" as art) but it's a high-skill process. Expect to spend some time practicing before you get results that are acceptable.
You can also achieve an "Oak" real finish by laminating Oak veneer (very thin slices of real wood) onto the surface of the furniture, using contact cement.
The "easy" solution is to put your white Ikea furniture up for sale or give it away, and buy an oak desk.
answered Jul 31, 2023 at 13:15
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Back during the 80s we refinished a dresser. Forget now what the process was called but it combined two separate colours of paint so you got a wavy finish of the two colours. Not quite a wood grain look, but was quite easy for non artist to do.– crip659Commented Jul 31, 2023 at 13:41
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Two-tone "random" is pretty easy - I've done it with a wadded plastic bag for the second color, or a bath scrubber for a different look.– EcnerwalCommented Jul 31, 2023 at 13:50
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You can get these things which you waggle across the surface to make fake grain. I've never seen one outside a showroom that actually looked any good though, so I'm not volunteering it as an answer - i.sstatic.net/Rq8py.jpg– TetsujinCommented Jul 31, 2023 at 17:38
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@crip659 We called it "antiquing the furniture" at our house.– shooverCommented Jul 31, 2023 at 21:46
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@shoover That does sound familiar. It did turn out good in my eyes, blue with black highlights colour.– crip659Commented Jul 31, 2023 at 22:10
