Laminated/chipboard Furniture Transformation (with Paint and Cheap Engrawer Pen)

Laminated/chipboard furniture transformation (with paint and cheap engrawer pen)

The story...

I had an old bookcase I loved... During remodelling of our apartment I was successful to negotiate with my fiancée (who hated it) that the it will remain in the house, as long as we do something with it to fit our interior.

For the upper part we went for mixture of paint + wood imitation stickers. The result was very nice – you can see it on the last picture - but the method was nothing new…

For the lower part I decided to do something more fun. I had a small engraving tool I bought “just in case” and I haven’t used before. I engraved the marinistic pattern over painted chipboard bookcase doors (painted with oil paint) and filled the cuts with color poster paint for children. With such a combination excess poster paint could be easily removed with a piece of cloth but the color stayed in engraved cuts.

Of course if your furniture is laminated you can go for the shortened version --> engraving + painting. The poster paint will be as easy to remove from the laminate as from oil paint.

The result is another way you can decorate your laminated/chipboard furniture.

Bonus – as a pattern I used Kerby Rosanes graphic from my coloring book for adults. Engraving and painting such a big image was additionally antistressfull ^^

Step 1: Materials

1. Piece of furniture you want to decorate

2. Oil paint + painting tools (for chipboard - or if you want to paint over laminate to change its color). If you are working on something laminated, having a color that you already like you can skip this.

3. Pattern

4. For transporting the image into wood - carbon paper and sharp pencil. And scotch tape.

Tip - if you want to paint over black paint I reccomend violet carbon paper.

5. Engraving tool (mine cost about 3 dolars). Its downside was the battery use. About two AAA bateries per door. So remember about rechargeable batteries!

6. Poster paint, brushes and some unwanted pieces of material.

Step 2: Transferring the Image Into Doors Part 1

1. Doors painted with oil paint.

2. Carbon paper sticked to the board (with scotch tape).

3, 4. Placing the picture so it would fit with the rest of the image. You have to remember the height, and move it to the right place (to the right in this case ;).

5. Image sticked to carbon paper.

6. For the comfortable engraving - I removed doors from the bookcase and engraved them on the table.

Step 3: Transferring the Image Into Doors Part 2 & Engraving

Step 4: Painting

Paint, wipe, repeat...

Paint, wipe... Paint (I left top of the weaves painted for the splash of color).

Big painted areas are possible to do in two ways. Either you engrave them whole (and paint over them), or you use paints of better quality than poster paints. I used paints that I typically use to paint my miniatures. They are almost not possible to rub off. Still, my project was horizontal bookcase doors. If I would decide to do something vertical (like table) I would cover it with some kind of fixative (stabiliser).