How To Paint Built In Oak Bookshelves

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Painting your bookshelves a new color is a cracking way to requite them a fresh look and burnish up your room. At that place are ii ways to paint your bookshelves: you can spray-paint them or you paint them with acrylic pigment with a paintbrush. Spray-painting is very speedy, and then if you lot're in a rush, that'south the method for y'all. Painting with a paintbrush takes longer simply allows y'all to paint more intricately.

1

Motion your bookcase into the garage or lay down plastic tarps. If possible, move your bookcase into the garage so that you don't become spray paint on annihilation in the room. If your bookcase is born, or too heavy to move, then protect your room by taping plastic tarps over any flooring, walls, or furniture close to the painting.^[1]
two

Open windows and doors to increase ventilation in your painting space. Spray-painting creates fumes that aren't skillful to breathe in. Consider placing a fan facing out the window to blow out air and keep information technology circulating in the room.^[2]

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3
Wipe down your bookcase with a tack cloth. A tack cloth is a lint-gratis cloth that is slightly tacky (glutinous), which ways it tin can selection up dust much better than your average cleaning rag. Getting your piece of furniture clean before you paint it is of import so that you don't accidentally make specks of dirt stick to the article of furniture.^[3]
- A dry out cloth will become off most of the dust, but if you have more stubborn grit, just wet the fabric until it is slightly damp and rub it over the furniture.
iv

Milk shake a tin of primer for ane minute and do spraying it on plywood. Hold the canister upside down and shake it vigorously. This will aerosolize the primer and make certain it is set to spray. Practice spraying it on some plywood, by belongings the primer most a foot (30cm) abroad, and moving closer and farther until you discover a position that works best.^[4]
5
Spray the primer over the bookcase and let it dry out for xx minutes. Motion the tin can left to correct and upward and down equally you spray. Apply the primer in a sparse, even coat. Check the instructions on your item primer to encounter if it requires one or two coats.^[5]
- If information technology needs 2 coats, expect 20 minutes before applying the 2d coat.^[six]
6

Shake the spray paint for 1 infinitesimal and examination it on plywood. Just as y'all did for the primer canister, milkshake the spray paint canister vigorously for 1 minute and and so do spraying it on a piece of cardboard. Hold the canister closer to the woods for a darker paint color and farther abroad for a lighter color.^[7]
7
Apply the first coat of spray paint in a thin, fifty-fifty glaze. Spray the spray paint in overlapping strokes, moving the can upward and down and side to side. Cover the bookcase completely in ane coat of paint and let it dry. Spray beyond the edges of the bookcase to avert drips at the edge.^[eight]
- Pause to shake the can every few minutes during painting.^[9]
- Go along your spray can in constant movement to avoid drops.^[x]
8

Permit the bookcase dry for 20 minutes and apply the second glaze. Spray the second coat thinly and evenly, shaking the tin every few minutes. Allow the 2d coat dry out and see if the bookcase is the color yous want. If not, keep on applying thin coats of spray paint, until your bookcase is the perfect color.^[11]
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Allow the bookcase dry overnight. Although spray paint dries pretty fast, it'due south best to make absolutely certain that your bookcase is dry out before you affect it, move information technology, or load it upwards with books and knickknacks. Once your bookcase is dry, you can take away your drib cloth, and move your bookcase to wherever yous want information technology.^[12]

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1

Ventilate your room and lay down a driblet cloth. Liquid paint doesn't emit as many fumes as spray-paint, only it'southward still important to ventilate your room by opening up windows and doors. Too lay down a drib material to protect your floor from paint drips.^[13]
2
Sand your bookcase with 150-grit sandpaper. You tin sand by mitt if you like, but that takes a while. It's quicker to sand with a palm sander, a fiddling machine yous tin can attach sandpaper to. If your bookcase has a woodgrain, sand in the direction of the grain. Just sand enough to take away any shine that's on the surface. Don't gouge into the wood itself. You don't have to sand away all the old pigment!
- Wear gloves and safety goggles to protect yourself from dust while you're sanding.^[14]
- Wipe off the sanding grit with a tack cloth before continuing.
3
Apply a coat of primer to your bookshelves and let it dry. The base glaze of the primer will help your paint stick to the bookcase. Choose a primer designed for utilise on the material your furniture is made from. You can utilise a spray-on primer, even if you want to paint the bookcase with a paintbrush. Or, y'all can use a pigment-on primer.^[15]
- Follow the instructions on the primer bucket for drying times. Some primers will dry out in every bit few every bit 10-20 minutes, while others might need a few hours.^[sixteen]
4
Stir your acrylic paint with a stir stick and test on some scrap wood. Acrylic is a great paint to use for a bookshelf. Latex paints, which are usually used for walls, tin can sometimes remain tacky, which isn't proficient for putting books on. Stir your paint to make sure it'south all a consistent color and test it on some scrap wood.^[17]
- Practicing on scrap forest will assistance you effigy out how much paint to load on the castor, and how long to make your brushstrokes, before you start on the actual bookcase.^[18]
5
Paint the bookshelf in a lite, even glaze in the direction of the grain. Dip the paintbrush in the saucepan of paint and rub off whatsoever excess paint on the scrap wood so that your castor isn't dripping. Then pigment lightly in the direction of the wood grain. Employ long, even strokes.^[xix]
- Start at the bottom of the bookcase and piece of work upwards.^[20]
vi

Let the bookshelf dry completely after the beginning coat of paint. The corporeality of fourth dimension your pigment will take to dry depends on the blazon of paint you lot choose. Well-nigh paints need about 6-8 hours to dry out. Chalk paint, which sticks very well to unsanded forest, just takes nigh thirty minutes to dry out. Check your tin can of pigment to run across how long the recommended drying fourth dimension is.^[21]
seven
Wipe the bookshelf with a tack cloth earlier painting a 2nd coat. This will collect any dust that may take settled on the furniture after your first glaze. Brand sure to wipe downwardly the article of furniture between each glaze of paint.^[22]
- Paint more coats of paint, until yous get the look you want. Remember to let the paint dry in between each glaze and wipe with a tack cloth once dry. ^[23]
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1

Paint your bookshelf a single color for a simple solution. This is easy to do and easy on the eyes. If you desire your room to look brighter, paint your bookcase white or yellow. If you lot desire a calm, beachy vibe, paint your bookcase pale blue. For dramatic dissimilarity in a vivid room, pigment your bookcase in a striking cerise or black.
2
Paint your big, born bookcase the same color equally your walls. If y'all take a big, built-in bookcase that y'all desire to blend in seamlessly with the room, don't paint it the color of the trim or the woodwork. Instead, paint information technology the same colour as your walls. This volition make the bookshelf not stand out as much, which is easy on the eyes for such a large piece of furniture.^[24]
- If you take gratuitous-standing bookcases and you desire them to look built-in, paint them the same colour as the walls.^[25]
3

Paint the backing a different color from the rest of the bookcase. Make your bookcase pop past painting the bankroll a different color from the residue of the bookcase. You tin choose two colors that are similar, for a harmonious, two-toned look, or choose contrasting colors for a dramatic pop.^[26]
4
Tape dissimilar patterns of wallpaper to each backing panel. If you lot desire a more elaborate design and texture on the backing of your bookcase, cutting out rectangles of your favorite wallpapers and tape them to the backing. You tin make each backing panel take the same wallpaper, or choose wallpapers that are all the same color but different patterns for an center-catching wait.^[27]
- You'll need to remove the shelves to paint the back, or, if they're not removable, apply painter's tape to the shelves so you lot don't accidentally pigment them with the backing color.
5

Apply a stencil to embellish your bookcase with designs. If you want to decorate your bookshelves even more you can use a stencil to pigment on designs. Or, try painting freehand for a playful, whimsical expect.^[28]

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Add New Question

Question

What is the quickest way to paint a bookshelf?

Crystal Chadwick is a Licensed General Contractor and the Owner of Yin & Yang Construction out of Common salt Lake City, Utah. With over 16 years of experience in the construction industry, she specializes in remodels, repairs, and handyman services. Crystal leads her squad with vision and a detail-oriented approach, allowing them to provide quality work and blueprint to their clients.

Licensed General Contractor

Skillful Answer

Try using a brush to go far the corners. Then, go over the rest with a sausage roller.
Question

What kind of paint works best for a bookshelf?

Crystal Chadwick is a Licensed General Contractor and the Possessor of Yin & Yang Structure out of Salt Lake City, Utah. With over sixteen years of feel in the structure manufacture, she specializes in remodels, repairs, and handyman services. Crystal leads her squad with vision and a detail-oriented approach, assuasive them to provide quality piece of work and design to their clients.

Licensed General Contractor

Expert Answer

Any interior paint will do. The higher quality of paint you use, the longer information technology should last. If yous're going a lighter color, make sure yous use primer commencement.
Question

How do you prepare a bookshelf for painting?

Crystal Chadwick is a Licensed General Contractor and the Owner of Yin & Yang Structure out of Common salt Lake Urban center, Utah. With over 16 years of experience in the structure industry, she specializes in remodels, repairs, and handyman services. Crystal leads her squad with vision and a detail-oriented approach, assuasive them to provide quality work and design to their clients.

Licensed General Contractor

Expert Answer

Clean it with soap and water first. If you're going for a lighter color, use a primer before applying the pigment.