DIY Project: Painting built-in MDF bookshelves

One of the things that really sold our house to me was the home office. While I didn’t love the colour or the amount of built-in bookcases that had been put in by the previous owners, I loved that I had enough storage to sell my two Ikea Billy bookcases and my filing cabinet. Love a declutter!

   

The above is the estate agent photo of our home when it was put on the market. There are around four filing cabinets, five full bookcases and two desk spaces. I currently work in the corner space on the left and keep the other desk space free.

But to me, it all looked very ‘meh’. The shelves are MDF but really good quality, complete with coving around the top that does help to add a certain luxury feel. But I think it was the colour that I disliked. Just very pale wood, like a pine or beech.

So one day I decided to redecorate my office and paint our built-in MDF bookcases using Frenchic’s Lazy Range paint*. I chose to go dark and went with Loof*, a black paint with a very matte finish.

 

Can you paint laminate bookshelves?

   

Before I go into the ‘how’, I want to discuss whether you can paint laminate or MDF. I think a lot of people thought I was mad, particularly family members who maybe haven’t much experience with chalk paints or lazy paints.

Laminate can easily be painted but the most important thing is ensuring that the paint has a good surface to stick to. For this reason, the laminate should be clean and dry and you may wish to rough it up with sandpaper first to provide a good key.

Back in the day, you would have needed a primer, an undercoat, then your colour of choice finished with a top coat. I do NOT have time to go through all this.

With a chalk paint*, most of these steps can be erased, and now you can simply paint the laminate or MDF with the paint, finishing with a wax* if you want to.

 

How to paint built-in bookshelves

As you can see from the estate agent photo, I have a lot of shelves to paint. I haven’t done them all yet, but I’ve already learned lots of things along the way that I wanted to share for those of you wanting to try painting wood or MDF bookshelves too.

You will need:

• Microfibre cloths
• Sugar soap*
• Frenchic’s oval brush*
• A cutting in brush*
• Clingfilm (optional)
• Chalk paint*

 

Step 1: Clean the surface

One of the most important things when painting shelving of any sort is to make sure that it’s clean and dry. I always use a microfibre cloth and a sugar soap solution to clean the area and then dry it with a cloth afterwards. Sometimes the sugar soap can leave a residue so make sure that you’ve got rid of it as much as possible.

 

Step 2: Use the right tools

Next, it’s really important to ensure that you have the right tools for the job. I’d recommend a couple of good paint brushes, including one that’s made for cutting in.

I really like Frenchic’s oval brushes* as they help to get a nice smooth finish. I have also been using a cutting in brush to get a nice neat line around the edges of the bookcases and where the shelves meet the desk surface.

You’ll like also need some clingfilm to wrap your brush in between coats – this will stop the paint on the brush from drying.

Using the right paint is also imperative. You could choose a paint that requires a primer first and then a coat of paint, however I prefer to use chalk paint that doesn’t require primer and has a nice matte finish.

 

Step 3: Apply your first coat

Once you’ve cleaned the area using sugar soap*, dried it off and made sure you’ve got all the right tools for the job, it’s time to get painting.

My number one tip is not to use too much paint. This will take longer to dry and you could end up with an uneven finish that contains brushstrokes. I’d prefer to do more very light coats to get the best finish possible.

The first coat will always look patchy and uneven but don’t worry. The second or third coat will come out beautiful.

As I was painting my bookshelves such a dark colour from a very light colour, it took around 3-4 coats to get the true black colour you can see in the photos. In the image below, the shelves have had two coats, and you can see how patchy they are.

   

In the next image, the shelves on the right have had 3 coats whereas the doors and the panel on the left has only had 1. Looks terrible, right! It will get better.

 

I’d recommend leaving at least 3-4 hours between coats. The first coat should dry fully, otherwise you may find that it starts peeling off when you try to apply the second coat.

 

Step 4: Persevere

Applying coat after coat may feel like a waste of time, but it’s worth it to get a perfect finish. Avoid painting when you’re starting to get fed up as you’ll only start to rush the job and make mistakes.

 

Step 5: Wait for the paint to cure

When using Frenchic paint*, many people make the mistake of leaving to dry for just a couple of days and then scratching the paint. Frenchic takes up to three weeks to cure. Over this time period, the water in the paint gradually evaporates, leaving a rock hard finish. We painted our front door in Wise Old Sage and it has no chips or scratches after four months. Curing is so important, so avoid overusing your shelves during this time period!

 

And that really is it. Painting laminate or MDF isn’t difficult if you have the right tools.

 

The Result

And here are my finished bookshelves! Remember what they looked like in the before image?

   

I still have a long way to go, as I’m painting the rest of the bookshelves along the left-hand wall, but these two are finished and I’m so happy with the results.

I’d love some new handles for all of the cupboards in here too, and tested out these to see how they would look:

   

I am all about the details and these would make for the perfect finish. Again, these doors have only had two coats, and absolutely need a third!

 

What I learned

As with any project, you make mistakes as you go along.

When I first painted the bookcases, I removed all of the individual shelves and painted these one coat at a time, one side at a time.

   

This took a really long time and what I hadn’t thought about was getting the shelves back in place. They were a very tight fit and I scuffed a lot of the paint in the bookcases trying to get them back in place.

For the next set of shelves, I’m leaving them in place and painting the unit as a whole. This does mean that should I want to change the height of the shelves in the future, I’ll need to repaint the band that’s been missed, but I don’t think we ever will change the height.

   

The above shelf has only had 2 coats so it’s patchy, but I left the shelves in to paint and it was so much easier and faster. It also meant I could paint the little clear plastic brackets underneath the shelves too, so you can hardly see them now.

 

So there you have it. I hope you have fun with your own painting project and I’d love to hear how you get on!

*This guide contains affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission when you purchase something through the link.