Gel Stain Over Laminate

To preserve the look of the wood grain on laminated furniture try using a tinted polyurethane stain.

Gel stain over laminate.

Gel stain will not require you to sand the product to a raw wood finish. Allow the gel stain to dry 72 hours or longer if necessary. We have heard of success with the following preparation. 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.

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. Laminate is very smooth and shiny so you must sand or the paint and the gel stain won t stick. In gf s finish line you can use general finishes arm r seal this topcoat ambers over dark colors and general finishes high performance over light colors. It can be applied over only lightly sanded pieces just as well.

I love two tone mcm furniture. Sweep it well and run a mop over it first. Gel stains as all wood stains were formulated to go over raw wood which has an open surface and can absorb some of the stain. But if you take care of it and keep it clean your laminate can last up to 30 40 years.

If it looks like a gloopy mess that. This gel stain over stain or paint technique allows you to re cover almost any painted surface even laminate and metal without stripping or sanding off the original surface. It s easy to get the look of a dark rich stain on a painted piece of furniture as long as you know how to use gel stain as a faux finish. If your laminate flooring starts looking scuffed or dull you can stain or paint it to revive it.

In addition to this non permeable surface factor general finishes gel stain is an oil based product and it is more difficult to obtain proper drying characteristics over a dense manufactured surface such as laminate. The condition of the wood does not play as big of a role in the finished result of the gel stain the knots in your knotty pines will look less pronounced when the job is done. Seal with a topcoat allowing extra dry time. I decided to stain the drawers and paint the body to match the dresser in my room.

Prep with xim 400 white primer sealer bonder. Again milk paint would be a better product to use. Lightly sand the laminate with 150 grit sandpaper. Once you have your laminate primed use general finishes dark chocolate milk paint it matches the java gel stain color.

Applying gel stain directly to laminate. You could choose to use minwax polyshades to stain laminate or a similar brand.