UKC

I need to buy a TV cabinet type thing and can't find one that suits all our needs, except for a very cheap (which is a priority!) plain, uncoated pine one. I would love to get this and then paint it the exact colour we want - but I know nothing of painting furniture.

I've read that using a paint sprayer gives the best 'textureless' coating (which is what we would want, I don't want it to have visible brush marks, like our skirting boards do). And I've seen that you can get paint sprayers quite cheaply from screwfix and so forth.

From what I've read the coats would be something like: primer, 3 x coats paint, protective finish coat.

Can you spray primer? and can you spray whatever a suitable protective finishing coat would be?? and what would the best type of protective finish coat be!?!?

Would I need to build it first if it's flat pack because would the coats of paint add too much thickness so it wouldn't go together?

I have so many questions but would love to try it.

You can use a roller, which avoids brush strokes. If you can paint it flat, before assembly, you can also avoid runs. Get some 120/180/240 grit or wet and dry paper and give it a gentle going over between coats. You can buy car varnish in a spray can. I finished my guitar in this. Do lots and lots of light coats. Leave a good few hours between coats. Occasionally leave it a few days to make sure all the layers have hardened. I used 1000 grit wet and dry, moving up to 7000 wet and dry ( a sheet of a4, feels abrasive, when compared with 7000). Finish with t-cut or similar. Possibly overkill for furniture, but the technique is the same.

Practice on some scrap wood, or the back / base where it wont be seen, to perfect your technique.

This is exactly the kind of insight I need thank you! Can I just clarify - with the 1000-7000 paper, is this between each paint coat or between each spray varnish coat, or just at the end?

and I've seen t-cut but I thought it was a liquid you rub onto cars to get scratches out or something like that, how would you use it in this scenario? As a final finish?

Many thanks 

We've just upcycled a pine sideboard - first time doing something like this and are pretty happy with the result.

Light sand, mostly to remove stains rather than varnish, then a primer ("no need to sand"), two coats of Rust-oleum chalk paint, then two layers of furniture wax.

Pretty decent finish overall - the only mistake we made was using brushes for the first layer of paint instead of rollers - on the sides it's fine, but the top left very obvious brush marks. 
It's having stuff put on it, so not too awful - but roller for both coats would have been better.

Trial assemble. Knotting solution on all the knots. Foam roller for all the rest of this. Undercoat, sand lightly. Repeat if necessary. Clean paint runs out of holes/joints as you go. Roller on colour coats until you're happy with the coverage then let it all dry rock hard for a couple of days. Assemble. Touch up any marks. Admire.

Water based primer can raise the grain of the wood, you may need to sand most of the first coat off to get it back to flat. You can save the mess by wiping the wood down with a damp cloth then sand the raised grain back down once dry (use a sanding block or you make it worse). Then start with the primer, it should stay pretty flat and grain free.

I did exactly this with my daughter's bed recently using cheap B&Q mixed eggshell for wood, it came up really nice with 2 or 3 coats. Not super robust though, I'd suggest better paint for hard wearing stuff.

You won't need to get into colour sanding or polishing unless you want a crazy high gloss and nice crisp reflections in which case don't start with a cheap pine box and wood paint If you do go for high gloss paint the roller will tend leave you with an eggshell texture anyway, you get a glossier finish brushing it on carefully IMO.

jk

Between coats. The first few layers of paint fill out the natural grain in the wood. By sanding it, you end up with a dead flat surface. As more and more layers go on, the surface becomes pretty much flat, so you're just smoothing out the layers. Using finer grade paper as you near the finish layers.

T-cut is a wax and really fine abrasive. So it adds a finish and a gloss element as well. There might be a wood specific product out there, but I had some kicking about.

Like I said, this was for a guitar body. It might be overkill going up to 7000 for a TV stand.

Another vote for foam rollering with light sanding between coats.  Personally wouldn't bother with a final protective coat for a TV cabinet. Can make the final colour and finish worse in my experience and a TV cabinet won't take any hammer anyway.  Have achieved 'spray finish' results (just about!) on a few projects like MDF shelves, a pair of kitchen benches and upcycling a set of kitchen units using foam roller satin wood paint. Reasonably durable too and easy to touch up if it gets a knock.

If it is solid pine and not just a pine veneer you could just stain it to the colour you want with a wood stain. Simply applied with a cloth. That's what we do with real pine at work to get different colours or shades.

Learn to paint and you'll avoid the brush marks, its very satisfying getting a good finish with a brush.

https://www.craftmasterpaints.co.uk/hints-tips/

He's not renovating the Mona Lisa! 😄

A decent rub down with 80 grit paper and painting with a quality brush will do, it's just a tv stand.

I'd just treat any knots and use a decent gloss paint over primer and undercoat, with a light sand between coats. There should be no brush marks with gloss paint, the whole point is that it flows out. If there are brush marks on your skirting boards they've either used the wrong paint or done a shit job.

I painted the skirting boards 🤣🤣😅😜

😂😂😂 Ah, OK then. Maybe spraying is not such a bad option after all 😂

If money is a priority, I would suggest this could be the wrong route. Buying all the paints a various chemicals and finishing products you will need will cost, a lot of money.
Sandpapers. Various
Knotting Solution
Paint
Brushes
Rollers
Brush cleaners.

This is why people have sheds, to store all the excess products from, past projects.

If I was you, I would see if there is a local group into stuff like this, who can not only give you advice, but also lend or give you some bits and bobs. The one that springs to mind is knotting solutions which will cost you £5, but you only need a few dabs.

If you start this, could I suggest you start a spreadsheet, and list every single cost, it would be interesting.

This thread has been very interesting and educational for me but is unfortunately redundant because I later discovered the pine unit I was looking at is not deep enough to fit a standard hifi unit. I'm back to square one again.

Cut or leave the back out of it?

jk

Consider Zinsser BIN primer instead of knotting and primer. Contains shellac (like knotting solution). Dries quickly and but you need meths to clean brushes. 

Good idea but I want to mount it on the wall, or at least have it flush against the wall.