This is short instructable on how I decided to have a go at (as the title indicates)painting our sideboard.

Our home is/was filled with dark wood furniture as was the wont when we moved in 20+ years ago,our tastes have changed and we now prefer lightwood and in the living room we have eradicated all the old furniture by either getting rid ,getting new or sanding down the stain till the lighter wood came through. It came to the turn of the dining room and in there we have a old fashioned but perfectly serviceable darkish mahogany laminated sideboard and having had a look round I quite like the grey painted with oak top ones.

Step 1: Prepping the Sideboard

Having read up on how to,i decided to have a go even though my painting skills aren't the best.

I decided to use 3 paint products,the base primer everybody recommends is Zinssler ,paint wise I went for Wilko cupboard mineral stone satin and to protect it Screwfix no non sense varnish.

I also decided to change the handles,so first I removed the top draw and stripped off the front panel to access the the handles and I also removed the front doors.

Even though the zinssler is supposed to be so good it doesn't need the wood to be sanded, i did it anyway and sanding the top the light MDF came through but I didnt fancy it and real oak is expensive so decided just to try painting the top the same colour.

Step 2: Priming

Next after giving everything a light sanding was to prime it all over ,this didn't cover as well as I expected and even though the grey paint might cover - it might not, so I gave it another coat of primer as you can see using a 4" gloss roller which I hoped would give me a smoother finish than a brush,although I used a brush for the edges. For some reason small parts seem not to take the primer to well,i assume there must have been something on the veneer that stopped it taking properly,but all was well in the end.

Step 3: Painting

After waiting for the primer to cure,i applied several coats of mineral stone then a couple of coats of varnish,eventually fitting the new handles. I'm quite pleased with final result even if my painting isn't the best and certainly doesn't inspire close scrutiny .

Cost wise it wasn't that cheap but compared to a bought one I suppose it is ! breakdown of costs below

zinssler 123 from screwfix £16.99 (1/2 used)

mineral stone satin paint from Wilko-£12.95 (all used)

varnish from screwfix - £6.99 (1/4 used)

2 cup handles from Ebay - £3.50

2 handles from Ebay - £3.27

So if I use the rest of the paint varnish on other projects it equates to roughly £30.27 plus sandpaper + paint brushes.

Labour wise it was quite intensive probably spent at least 18+ hours on it-i personally don't cost my time as I would only be spending it on BF1 !

Do you think it was worth it or should I have sold it (for a pittance =people don't want dark furniture anymore) and bought new ?