hello Katie here from salvaged by K Scott with another Furniture flip did you know that
you can make over and upcycle particle board furniture today I'm updating a laminate and
particle board cabinet that I thrifted for just five dollars and I'm gonna share some
tips and tricks that will hopefully make your own furniture refinishing projects go a little
bit smoother
[Music]
thank you foreign [Music] let's start at the top here with what exactly is particle board
and what is laminate particle board OSB or chipboard is a type of composite wood material
that's made by combining wood particles or chips basically the leftovers from Milling
Lumber with resins and adhesives and then pressing them together under heat and pressure
that creates boards that are flat smooth and uniform in both thickness and density it's
pretty commonly used in furniture construction and has been since about the 1950s because
it's really cost effective and it doesn't split or warp like natural Woods tend to do
sometimes it's finished with a laminate over top and other times it's covered with a thin
layer of real wood called veneer unfortunately it's just not as durable or strong as solid
wood and it can be really prone to bubbling or swelling from moisture laminate Furniture
is Furniture that's made with a thin layer of decorative material usually some type of
paper or plastic that's stuck onto to a composite material like particle board it's popular
because again it's budget friendly and it can be made to look like anything which makes
it completely versatile to any kind of design there are a ton of these pieces out in the
world new and old and even though they may not be the most desirable construction and
they can't be sanded back or restained like wood they can definitely still be fixed up
and painted to be turned into useful beautiful pieces of furniture again instead of ending
up in the trash now let's dive into this makeover I'm going to start like I always do by washing
this thing down with some simple green any cleaner you like with a good Degreaser in
it will make sure that you're not only getting any dirt off of the surface but also anything
that might mess with your paint like oils or waxes since this is susceptible to moisture
damage though I'm making sure not to use too much water and moving pretty quickly so that
it can dry out again fast
foreign [Music] I removed the shelf pins that I could but the ones in this cubby are covered
with the laminate so they'll just get to keep hanging out in there and this knob is cute
but not the modern look that I'm going for so I'll save this for another project
I'm also removing the magnetic catch and its corresponding plate on the inside of the door
because I don't want to mess them up with paint but something to note about working
with particle board is that it doesn't tolerate being nailed or screwed into multiple times
it tends to crumble a little bit when you remove a screw and then it's often hard to
get that screw to hold in the same hole again and that's the reason I'm choosing to leave
the hinges on here alone I'll cover them up with some painters tape to protect them as
much as I can but if I take out the screws I probably won't be able to reinstall them
in the same spots again I am going to pull off these little decorative pieces though
foreign
I want to pull this base off of the bottom and add some new legs on here to update it
a little all I have to do is unscrew these brackets and the base will come right off
[Music]
okay now for the legs I have a little collection I've salvaged off of other furniture or ordered
for other flips that I didn't end up using so let's see what's in here foreign [Music]
These are nice but too shiny for what I have in mind these could work but again Shiny Gold
I don't want gold on this one I might be able to make these wood guys work these are two
country but these classic MCM taper legs these are the ones these are gonna work I can sand
them back to bare wood stain them and add some real wood to this thing the brackets
for these legs though do need some sort of lip for me to screw them onto so I think I'll
use this scrap piece of Poplar to make sort of a smaller frame that I can secure them
to
[Music] after I figured out how big I wanted to make my new frame I cut the pieces down
on the miter saw drilled some pilot holes so that I didn't split the boards and then
screwed them right onto the bottom of the cabinet with some one inch wood screws now
I've got just enough of a lip to attach the brackets they are pretty gross though so I
think I'm gonna give these a soak in some CLR and I'll scrub them down a little bit
later foreign [Music]
I put a bit of wood filler over the seams here and while that dries I want to figure
out some way to spice up the door I picked up a few of these pine lattice pieces the
last time I was at Home Depot and I think I can use these to add another wood feature
here so I'm going to cut a few pieces the same height as the door and then just play
around with how I want to lay them out my filler is dry now so I'll smooth that out
with some 150 grit sandpaper and then I need to scuff up the rest of these slippery laminate
surfaces to create a little bit of grip or tooth for my paint to grab onto this is also
where I'd be using my sander to smooth out any bubbled up parts if I had them and filling
in any dense or deeper scratches but this piece is really clean and smooth so I don't
have any of that to do and I completely forgot about these little nail holes on the doors
foreign
[Music] sand I'm using a microfiber cloth to wipe up any sanding dust and then adding
that masking tape to the hinges
[Music] [Applause] on to pry pending on the paint you use you may or may not need to use
a bonding primer I use I usually like to stick on the side of caution and choose to Prime
with this shellac based primer no matter what I use this a lot because it does all the things
that I could possibly need from a primer like blocking odors and stains helping with paint
adhesion and especially if you're working with a lot of wood filler repairs it will
seal that up so that your paint sits evenly across those more porous spots and the non-porous
laminate this stuff is a pain to clean up it requires either alcohol or ammonia so I
like to line a paint tray with some aluminum foil and just use a roller to apply it instead
of trying to clean it out of my sprayer when I'm done I only need one coat on this so once
I've got this on here I'll let it dry for about 30 minutes and then I can move on to
paint while I wait for that to dry I guess I'll start sanding down these legs I'm going
to start with 80 grit to get through the paint and then I'll smooth that out with some 120
and then 108 80 grits to get a nice soft surface that I can stain
my primer is dry so I can go over with some 400 grit sandpaper really quickly just to
hit any little roller nubbies wipe off the dust again and now I can get set up to paint
[Music]
I'm going to use my gravity fed HVLP pneumatic sprayer that's powered by my big air compressor
today to paint with this Luxe blue called Chesler by Fusion mineral paint but you can
get fantastic results with an affordable electric sprayer or even a roller and a paintbrush
if spring isn't an option so please don't let my spraying this paint intimidate you
since I'm spraying though I do need to strain my paint so I don't end up with anything clogging
my gun and I'm also going to add just a splash of water to get a good flow when it comes
to painting laminated particle board Furniture like this it's important to choose the right
type of paint to ensure that you're getting good coverage good durability and a smooth
finish acrylic paints are a popular choice for painting this type of furniture because
they dry quickly they're easy to work with and like I said they can be applied with a
brush roller or a spray gun Fusion also has a resin in it which makes it waterproof really
easy to maintain and even UV resistant I get a lot of my Fusion products for free because
I love them so much that I signed up to be an influencer for the brand but I've also
had really good luck with some of the newer Al kid enamel paints like Benjamin Moore's
advance and bears satin enamel paints if you want to check those out instead no matter
what tools you choose to apply your paint you'll always get the smoothest results by
applying multiple lighter coats rather than trying to get full coverage in your first
pass and it can also help a lot with brushing or rolling if you give your dried coats another
light sand in between just don't sand your last coat because you'll definitely see all
those little scratches in it well that first coat of paint is drying I think the leg brackets
are ready for me to scrub off the rust with some steel wool [Music] foreign
those cleaned up really nicely but to keep them from resting over like that again I'm
gonna dry them off and then spray them with some of this rust inhibiting spray paint I
also want to get these legs and my wood for the door stained up I learned this little
clamp trick from Angie over at transcend Furniture Gallery it is the perfect way to paint stain
or top coat legs like this without having to lay them down on a surface to dry I am
on a mission to use up all of the little bits of leftover products that I've been collecting
for years so I'm going to use this salmon water-based wood stain in the Color Walnut
on these it is super easy to use you just wipe it on and then wipe off any excess the
only thing to watch for are streaks left by your rag or sponge and this stuff dries so
fast that it's ready to top coat almost instantly foreign [Music]
[Music] since I sprayed my first coat so it's dry enough for the next one which should take
care of any bare spots and be my final coat
[Music] I'm popping my legs and the wood strips onto this box so that I can top coat them
but I'm suddenly reminded of why this can has been sitting on the back of the shelf
for so long I'm not a fan of the spray can version of this top coat the regular brush
on stuff is my all-time favorite top coat though I'm gonna smooth out that poly mess
with some 400 grit sandpaper then I'll just rub a little bit more pigment over with whatever
is left on the rag then I'll try again with a damp sponge and this bare water-based poly
yep that is much better
my second coat has had about four hours to dry now so I'm gonna reinstall the magnetic
latch to the door because I want to flip this onto its back again and make sure the bottom
of the cabinet is good and I don't want this freshly painted door flapping around luckily
the screws are holding in there just fine if not I might have had to fill these holes
with wood filler touch up the paint and reinstall these in a new spot foreign spray just to
finish off this bottom and I'll leave this to dry overnight Fusion has a built-in top
coat so in the morning I can move right along to my Finishing Touches [Music] I'm ready
to install these brackets now and get the new legs on here and then I need to Rifle
through my Hardware bin to find a new knob for the door foreign
[Music] this little guy will work perfectly I'm just going to add a few coats of black
enamel paint to it
I'm kind of liking this cabinet as is maybe I don't need to add the wood strip details
onto this door after all but I guess I've already stained and sealed them so I may as
well execute on my plan I don't think nailing or stapling into the door is going to help
much on this particle board so I think I've decided to just stick these on with some crazy
glue foreign [Music] obviously I decided to use less of these than I originally thought
but I do really love the way this is looking [Music]
[Music] here's a quick reminder of the thrifted cabinet that I started with and here is the
brand new contemporary design that I was able to create with it a lot of these laminate
and particle board pieces get passed up at the thrift shops and ultimately tossed in
the trash but hopefully I've proven to you that their bad wrap isn't all it's cracked
up to be and even if they're beat up or worn out they can still make beautiful useful pieces
with a few modifications and a little bit of paint thank you so much for watching today
I'll leave a few more painted furniture videos here for you to watch next and I will catch
you all next time [Music] thank you