UKH

One of my more niche enquiries, this one, and probably opening a can of worms.

I have some isolated strips of furniture board (MFD clad in white Melamine)

I want them to be blue with a fairly smooth finish (so I am thinking spray paint and not my awful brush strokes).

What’s the best way to achieve this?

Searches elsewhere give a variety of responses ranging from “don’t bother, you are entering a world of hurt”, to “easy, get an all in one no-primer-needed spray”, via “use two coats of Zinsser BIN to prime it” and even “vinyl wrap”. I am lost already. 

The strips are isolated and plain flat rectangles. 

Photos show what I am aiming for - art/decoration using illustrated playing cards showing the story of the film Laputa the Flying Island. Plain white means that the card borders just fade into the background  which I don’t like. Using some blue paper there to show the difference 

Rub them down with  Scotchbrite pad, spray with plastic primer (car accessory shop) then normal car spray paint.

thanks Jim. Sounds like you’ve done this successfully. Have you? It’s all new to me ! 😃

Painted all sorts of plastic, melamine is nothing special and if anything easier than most. A lot depends on how much wear it's going to take i.e how hard the surface has to be. Kitchen cabinets, counter tops etc I'd use a 2component paint but probably car spray paint would be most important. The primer is nescessary and it wants to be one with solvent in it, not some water based stuff. Since this also comes in spray cans for car repairs it'll be the most convenient. Plenty of companies make paint for melamine, you can buy the one from Dulux at B&Q but it's for roller use.

Jim's suggestion for paint is what I'd do. I'd certainly look into wrap though for speed and simplicity, I think you can get it by the meter so it may work out cheaper and you'll get a uniform surface almost skill free.

jk

Thanks again. It won’t need to take any wear and tear, it’s for ornamental/decoration reasons (hanging on the wall like a framed pictures) 

I have no experience with wraps, where would I start re: sourcing some and would I need a heat gun etc? Cheers 

Google, I looked into it for something a while back but lost interest and never followed it up. Looks pretty straightforward for simple shapes and I doubt you'd need a heatgun, just film and squeegee to cover small flat boards.

jk

Or just Fablon, even simpler. Depends if they have the right colour like sky blue 9r whatever.

For the OP;- Fablon is self adhesive vinyl for covering shelves, worktops etc. Just Google it and you'll get a million shops that sell it online.

Thanks gents and sorry for being such a drip 😃, I am juggling a few things and my brain has lost the capacity for forward thinking etc .

I will get some Fablon and see how it goes; if it doesn’t seem right for this project I can use it elsewhere.