Will Gel Stain Work On Laminate Furniture

Though how to paint and stain laminate was not one i considered.

Will gel stain work on laminate furniture.

Don t get overzealous and start soaking your laminate with the stain. Yes it was perfect for a 12 year old girl s bedroom. Fortunately for those with laminate cabinets gel stain works well on a variety of surfaces other than real wood allowing you to stain your cabinets without leaving them a streaky splotchy mess. Lightly sand the laminate with 150 grit sandpaper.

It matches the general finishes java gel stain and will cover in two coats. With the oak cabinets the grain was very evident post staining. If you are wanting to apply gel stain over a painted furniture piece you will use the same process as below for applying gel stain over stain. You could choose to use minwax polyshades to stain laminate or a similar brand.

General finishes gel stain on knotty pine. Apply first coat of stain to laminate furniture. My bedroom suite was currently white and wood laminate. While gel stain does go on thick and sit on the surface of the wood i found that you can still see and feel the natural wood grain beneath unlike paint.

Apply as many coats of the mix as needed to obtain the desired color allowing 24 hour dry time between coats. Yes i said bedroom suite. The gel stain is thick like pudding not a liquid. Laminate is very smooth and shiny so you must sand or the paint and the gel stain won t stick.

If it looks like a gloopy mess that. Many ask if the gels can be used on laminate or plastic non wood surfaces. I decided to stain the drawers and paint the body to match the dresser in my room. I love two tone mcm furniture.

Gel stains occasionally work on laminate as this type of stain doesn t need to penetrate the material as deeply as traditional stain but gel stain manufacturers typically advise against it. Before you do anything take a before pic. To improve adherence of the stain mix 2 parts gel stain with one part gel satin topcoat. Clean your project with a scotch brite pad and a 50 50 mix of denatured alcohol and water.

If it comes off easily then it s not sticking so don t use it. Gel stain will not require you to sand the product to a raw wood finish. To test apply gel stain let dry for 48 hours and then try to scratch it off. To preserve the look of the wood grain on laminated furniture try using a tinted polyurethane stain.

You can apply gel stain to mdf stained surfaces and most painted surfaces including milk paint chalk paint and latex paint. This is where you want to proceed with caution. Open your can of gel stain. See below forgive the oil stained garage.

It does stick to some and not to others. It was the furniture kept in my childhood bedroom since i was 12. Sanding down to raw wood would be the very best practice but the following is the most common prep it only takes a few minutes first. If you need some ideas on what shade of stain click here.

To fix sand the table lightly with 120 grit sandpaper and restain the table.