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[Colin Bishop]

As the people on this Forum seem to include experts on anything, does anyone have advice on bedroom furniture that is going piebald?

We are redecorating our main bedroom at the moment. Some years ago we bought all new furniture (flat pack) in white faced chipboard. Whilst some of it is still a nice white, other bits are starting to yellow so, for example, we have a chest of drawers with three white drawer fronts and one discoloured one. I believe that this is due to the chemical makeup of the white plastic facing varying from one batch to another. It's not UV as the room faces North and we don't get the sun in and in any case the discolouring is haphazard on different bits of furniture.

Could I spray all the fronts with Plasticote Satin White, or would this peel off after a while? Or maybe brush paint with oil based eggshell? Any advice much  appreciated.

BTW: When we moved in we papered the room with fabric effect Novamura which looked very nice at the time, it's an absolute  to get off though!

Colin

[gribeauval]

The answer is to buy a melamine primer from your local DIY shop and follow the instructions carefully. Then paint in the colour you want. It is used to repaint kitchen units and does work as I did my units a couple of years ago and they still look good.

Mike

[Colin Bishop]

Thanks Mike, that's exactly the advice I was looking for.  :) Mayhem triumphs again!

Colin

[Bradley]

Colin,
Some time ago I repainted some kitchen unit doors and used a satin finish paint in a very light colour (over a dark wood grain finish) and the end result was better than expected.  I used a roller in order to avoid brush marks and where I had to use a brush went over it carefully with the roller.  It took two coats to get a good finish.  I sold the house about 2 1/2 years ago and no comment has been made so, I assume, it was never noticed  .
Happy painting  :) :) :)
Derek. 

[djrobbo]

Hi colin.......b & q do a handy little item called a wallpaper scorer......handle in the middle and three spikey wheels.......just roll it all over the paper to perforate it all over and then use a steam stripper..........should come of a treat..

       regards...bob.

[Colin Bishop]

Bob,

Good advice except for the steam stripper, which I've got. Novamura was a type of plastic so the steamer just melts it into the wall!  >:(. But you are right about scoring the surface. I have tried using a water spray which does help in loosening it a bit. The funny thing is that some areas peel off reasonably well but others seems to have bonded into the wall.

Colin

[Reade Models]

Hi Colin

I've heard of this yellowing bedroom furniture problem before - it's quite serious.

You need to notify the HSE immediately and if you have to use the bedroom before they send a team around to your house, you will need to wear a full re-breather set and flippers.

Have fun....

Malc

[djrobbo]

 Hi colin...the more holes and score lines you can get in it the better......it lets the water or steam get behind the paper easier....as for the sticky wall areas......it is usually caused by differing absorbancy levels on the wall........sometimes i have found that the wall has been treated with p.v.a  glue to seal in a problem......this sometimes rewets when you put paper over it and then sticks like the proverbial doo doo to an army blanket......just keep wetting it !

            regards and best of luck.......bob.

[DickyD]

Normally with Novamura the top surface can be pulled off dry and the backing paper removed fairly easy by wetting or steaming.

[Colin Bishop]

Normally with Novamura the top surface can be pulled off dry and the backing paper removed fairly easy by wetting or steaming.

Normally maybe. But after 25 years a sort of fossilisation sets in and the top layer metamorphoses into a sort of tough powdery sort of material which prefers to stay where it is. Some lessons there for those of us using styrene to construct our models maybe....

Not sure exactly what is coming off by means of scraping but if it leaves a surface I can stick conventional paper to then that's OK with me.

Colin

[polaris]

Dear Colin,

If the 'stain' is surface only (which I am sure it is), then Brasso will take it off. Once 'Brassoed' off(!), simply use a good furiniture polish to bring back a shine (a good car polish will do also).

Regards, Bernard

[polaris]

p.s. Mind you, TCut might do it as well? B.

[funtimefrankie]

If you are an Eskimo, it's the yellow snow you have to avoid

[bigfella]

I know it is slightly off topic but I can remember that Hyundai had a similar problem with their cars in the early 90s. After a couple of years not one panel on the cars matched in colour especially that poor excuse of a red that they had. It shows that it was a prefabricated car, painted panels in different factories and then brought together and assembled in the one location. No quality control or research into matching or fading of the paint.

Regards David