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View Full Version : Has anyone painted an untreated Kinderzeat?



quinnsmom
11-26-2005, 09:18 PM
I just noticed that Stokke offers an "untreated" Kinderzeat. I assume untreated means natural wood ready to pain/stain.

I was thinking of getting one of those and painting it myself. Has anyone ever done this? I was thinking of trying to stain it to match our kitchen table - but if I screw up and it doesn't match - the whole effort will have been pointless. So I'm thinking painting it in a funky sort of ecclectic way with lots of colors would be fun and more forgiving in the sense htat if I *messed up* I can make it look like I meant to do it that way.

If anyone has experience with this - how did you seal it when finished painting?

Thanks!

Beth568
11-26-2005, 10:41 PM
I paint kids' furniture and sell it, and while I haven't done a Kinderzeat I can give you some tips...if you are going to do something like a chair that's going to get a lot of heavy use, you'll want to start out with a good sanding and a wood sealer (you can ask at your local paint store for a recommendation), then prime, THEN paint, and then finish off with at least two coats of clear sealer (I have a couple of good sources for non-toxic sealers that I can email to you). I also think you're right to decide to paint rather than try to stain to match the table - if the Kinderzeat is a different kind of wood than the table, and if you didn't do the table yourself and don't know exactly what color to use, it's not likely to match. But painting it multi-colors would be really fun!

The critical thing is to prepare the surface and be patient about letting the paint dry during the process. You may find that it's pretty expensive to do it this way, because you'll want to use good quality paint, and if you're doing several colors you're going to end up buying several quarts of paint (I wouldn't recommend just using those little bottles of acrylic paint you buy at the craft store for something like this). It's a bit harder to do than it seems, but it's fun and you can get some really interesting results! :)

Anyway, if you want some advice about what kind of sealers to use, or anything else about the painting, please feel free to email me (beth @ myroomdesigns.com - no spaces) and I'll be happy to share whatever information I can!