anyone painted (or wallpapered!) melamine wardrobe doors?

LE3

I have fitted wardrobes in the bedroom, fitted when the house was build ~15 yrs ago.
They are in good condition, very sturdy, with one minor issue ... they have that cheap plastic strip stuff stuck onto the melamine/laminate doors to make it look "panelled"
One strip has lost it's "stick" and fallen off taking a bit of the surface of the melamine stuff with it, another is very loose and another door has a couple of chips to the laminate surface exposing the chipboard underneath

I wondered if I could remove the plastic strips (no doubt further damaging the surface of the melamine in the process!), polyfill the chipped bits and paint the doors, or even apply wall paper either to the whole door or to the "panels" to make them look a bit different?
Has anyone done anything like this?

I have thought of replacing all 4 doors but haven't checked to see if they are a standard measurement or what - they are very solid & well built so if I can just make them look a bit nicer I'll happily live with them for a while longer yet!

EwloeFM

I've done this in the past to some of our old wardrobe's - first use a light sandpaper to rough up the surface a little - you dont want anything shiny left as the paint wont stick!

Next you'd ideally use a similarly coloured primer to improve adhesion and then onto a suitable internal wood paint of your choice, give it a few coats to be sure.

they always look much better painted IMHO

nickj_2

use this primer and then give it a couple of coats of satinwood or eggshell

Susan1942

When I moved into my home 15 years ago there were melamine type wardrobes in one bedroom Good quality but looked ugly to me.I also had some new wardrobes fitted in the master bedroom. The new ones were sprayed and primed to be painted. I use a lady who did a lot of paint effects and she did all of the work The top which runs into the ceiling were papered as the rest of the bedroom.
The old ones she painted and the top part which runs into the roof were wallpapered I have radiator covers and they too were painted in the same way.
She also did some work on plastic pipe covering in 2 bathrooms and she did this to match the tiles. It looks fantastic and everyone who comes to my home admires the wardrobes.
I was used a company who do interior design and it was them who suggested doing this and reecommended 2 different people who could do the work. I used each of them to do 1 room and felt that I got the best of both worlds. I love everything about them but I don't think I would have thought of all the ideas were it not for them.
They did not charge for the service but I obviously spent a lot of money with them

While I could not do this work myself I am sure that you could do so. My daughter has painted wardrobes and pine headboards and made a great job of it.

Sue

cyclonebri1

LE3 wrote: »

I wondered if I could remove the plastic strips (no doubt further damaging the surface of the melamine in the process!), polyfill the chipped bits and paint the doors, or even apply wall paper either to the whole door or to the "panels" to make them look a bit different?
Has anyone done anything like this?

Don't wallpaper them, it will look awful, cheap, and will be temporary.

Go with the ideas above, paint is much more resilient.;);)

Jnelhams

http://www.dulux.co.uk/advice/questions/faq/faq_012.jsp

Dulux cupboard paint.