Yes it was perfect for a 12 year old girl s bedroom.
Will gel stain work on laminate furniture.
You can apply gel stain to mdf stained surfaces and most painted surfaces including milk paint chalk paint and latex paint.
Gel stain will not require you to sand the product to a raw wood finish.
You want your cloth rag to be damp with stain but not wet.
Lightly sand the laminate with 150 grit sandpaper.
The gel stain is thick like pudding not a liquid.
To test apply gel stain let dry for 48 hours and then try to scratch it off.
To preserve the look of the wood grain on laminated furniture try using a tinted polyurethane stain.
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.
General finishes gel stain on knotty pine.
To fix sand the table lightly with 120 grit sandpaper and restain the table.
If it comes off easily then it s not sticking so don t use it.
Simply dip the rag lightly into the stain mixture and then squeeze out any excess drips.
It matches the general finishes java gel stain and will cover in two coats.
You could choose to use minwax polyshades to stain laminate or a similar brand.
While gel stain does go on thick and sit on the surface of the wood i found that you can still see and feel the natural wood grain beneath unlike paint.
With the oak cabinets the grain was very evident post staining.
I decided to stain the drawers and paint the body to match the dresser in my room.
If you need some ideas on what shade of stain click here.
Clean your project with a scotch brite pad and a 50 50 mix of denatured alcohol and water.
I love two tone mcm furniture.
Many ask if the gels can be used on laminate or plastic non wood surfaces.
If it looks like a gloopy mess that.
It was the furniture kept in my childhood bedroom since i was 12.
This is where you want to proceed with caution.
Sanding down to raw wood would be the very best practice but the following is the most common prep it only takes a few minutes first.
Apply as many coats of the mix as needed to obtain the desired color allowing 24 hour dry time between coats.
Though how to paint and stain laminate was not one i considered.
It does stick to some and not to others.
Yes i said bedroom suite.
Laminate is very smooth and shiny so you must sand or the paint and the gel stain won t stick.
Don t get overzealous and start soaking your laminate with the stain.
Before you do anything take a before pic.
My bedroom suite was currently white and wood laminate.
See below forgive the oil stained garage.
Prep work before using gel stain on furniture stop.
To improve adherence of the stain mix 2 parts gel stain with one part gel satin topcoat.
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.