How to paint wood furniture without sanding.

If you can get away without sanding before painting, what primer is the best?

I put 4 primer, latex and chalk paint, sanding, and not sanding against a desk top.The how to paint furniture experiment went well.

If you want paint to stick to laminate, you have to sand it and have a good primer.

Is it really necessary to sand before using a good bonding primer?Is it possible to use a so so primer instead of sanding?

I did a bonding and durability test against this desk top.

I was surprised at the results and I can't wait to share them with you.

There are affiliate links in this post.I earn from purchases I make as an Amazon Associate.I may receive free products from other companies.This doesn't cost you anything extra.My opinions are mine.

I used Krud Kutter to remove all of the dust and grease from the surface.

The paint stick will always be better if you clean it with a degreaser cleaner before painting.

I use the original Krud Kutter for all of my furniture flips, but a bucket of hot soapy water with dawn dish soap cuts through grease and dirt.

I sanded half of the laminate top with my favorite 3M 220 grit sandpaper to see if it was worth it.

There is a chance that you will be able to see the little nail polish spots after I painted everything.

It is hard for paint to get a good grip on slick laminate.

I didn't change anything about the other half of the laminate.It was only cleaned with Krud Kutter.

The difference can be seen here.I sanded it on the left side.I didn't sand on the right side because it's nice and shiny.

The first section is for no primer, the next is BIN Shellac based primer and the last is BULLS EYE 123 tinted grey.

For the most part, these 4 primers are easy to get at your local hardware store or online, and they are what I already had on hand.

I covered the other sections so I wouldn't get shellac on them, and then I sprayed the clear shellac in a sanded section.

I wanted to compare the two because I like distressing my furniture and showing some wood on the edges.

If you use white tinted BIN shellac primer, you will see the white in between the paint and the wood, which ruins the look for me.

I had this primer on hand and it was grey tinted.I could tell which primer was easier because it came in handy for this experiment.

I like the idea of using a water based primer because I don't like using oil based primers.

I have never believed the can of primer claims that it sticks to all surfaces without sanding.

It doesn't come in a spray can for easy spray application, and it's not as easy to grab at a local hardware store.

I am curious as to how it fares against the competition.I have used it before and I thought it worked well.

I brushed on the BIN primer.When painting furniture, this is a top recommendation.

After an hour, I painted a coat of latex paint that I had on hand, as well as my favorite chalk paint, Country Chic Paint, on all of the sections, except for the primer that needed to be dried overnight.

On the next day, I painted all of the sections with latex paint and chalk paint.

Since I don't work on Sunday, the paint dried until Monday afternoon.It had time to dry for at least 24 hours.

If you want to see if your paint sticks or not, you should let it dry for 24 hours before doing a scratch test.

The latex paint and chalk paint came off with my finger.

I moved onto the sanded section without primer.It was easy to remove, but not as easy as the section where I had sanded.

The latex paint was easier to scratch off than the chalk paint.There is more bonding between chalk paint and latex paint.

I tried to scratch off the primer that I hadn't painted over.The sanded and not sanded sections did not budge where the one coat of BIN primer was.

The latex paint scratched away from the primer in both the sanded and not sanded sections.

I could not get the chalk paint to scratch off of the BIN primer.

The primer sections were the same as before, with the latex paint scratching off just a tiny bit, no matter if it was sanded or not.

I tried to scratch at the primer to see if it stuck.

The latex paint scratched off easily.The chalk paint held on better.

The primer stuck well on the sanded side.The chalk paint held on despite the latex paint not sticking to the primer very well.

The side that was not sanded gave the same result, with the sanded side coming out on top.

I used my metal paint scraper to give each paint and primer combination one last chance.

Sanding before painting to make sure your paint sticks is the best advice I can give.

If the laminate was sanded before the primer was applied, it had excellent adhesion.

Even though I sell my furniture, I will still be sanding before painting, even if you want to get the job done a little quicker.

I knew that chalk paint had better adhesion than primer, but I didn't think it would have the same effect.

I was not surprised that no primer at all and the 123 grey primer without sanding didn't hold up.

Even though the Country Chic Paint clear primer did chip a little, I still like it.It is a water based product that needs more time to cure before it can be more durable.

The BIN shellac based primer was the best overall winner in the scratch test, both with and without sanding.

If you have scratches or spots of nail polish, you will want to sand those areas to get a smooth surface for your paint.

The Bulls Eye 123 primer needs to be sanded before it can stick.

On the other hand, you don't have to sand before using the primers, they have a good amount of fumes.

You need to sand before using the water based primer that takes a little bit longer to cure into a highly durable primer.They have no fumes to worry about.

It was clear in the test that chalk paint is a better paint to use than primer.

The latex paint scratched off even over the best bonding primer, while the chalk paint held on in most of the tests.

It sticks better than latex paint, but please don't use chalk paint on slick laminate without doing something to make it stick better.

If you don't prime under the chalk paint, you'll be left with a bad paint job, where the paint will easily scratch off of the laminate.

It is easy to remove the chalk paint if it does not stick.

If it sticks well, you should paint the rest of your furniture with chalk paint.

If it scratches off easily, you will need to remove a small amount of chalk paint and paint a coat of primer on the laminate before painting.

It is possible to distress your paint without seeing a white primer in between the paint and laminate.

If you want to work indoors, I would use the Country Chic Paint clear bonding primer.

The BIN Shellac Based Primer is white and can be used to distress the chalk paint.