How to Paint Stained Woodwork

Here is a simple step-by-step process to follow and learn how to paint stained woodwork in 11 steps.

1. First, you need to make sure it is clean. Cleaning extremely well mainly goes for areas that are touched often, like kitchen cabinets and rail systems
2. Depending on the products you are using, you might need to sand the surface very well to dull the coating to get a good bond
3. You will need to prime the wood with a stain-blocking primer. Primer is essential if you have oak woodwork 
4. We recommend double priming the wood if it is oak wood or not, as when painting by hand, it will typically take four coats to get exceptional coverage
5. Fixing and wood defects with a wood filler or sanding it down. If you go back to bare wood, be sure to reprime the area so you don’t have any bonding or tanning (yellow bleeding through your white) problems
6. Filling any nail holes with wood filler or lightweight spackling compound, for a larger area or hole, you may want to use something more robust like epoxy, but don’t plan on sanding it at all. You will have to smooth it with something else after it hardens.
7. Sanding the entire surface lightly with a med grit sanding paper to ensure you end up with a smooth finish
8. Caulking all the seams and crevices to get rid of the dark lines. If the carpenters did a great job, you might not need to do much. We recommend doing all the crevices where two pieces of wood meet, so you don’t have a hairline crack in the future.
9. Applying the first coat of finish paint to the wood should look pretty good once you complete this step. Most painters and DIY projects stop here, but we like to have a solid white with no dark brush lines in the coating.
10. Give everything a good look over before applying the final coat for holes, cracks, or sanding areas you may have missed.
11. The final coat should give you solid white trim work that will last for years where you can’t see any black lines in the finish. Yes, you can still see this after doing the three coats when the paint separates slightly, and you can see through the color still. If you can see any of these now, you may have applied the paint too thin in other stages of this project. In this case, you may need to apply another coat.

Pro tips for How to Paint Stained Woodwork

• We recommend using an oil primer for the first coat of primer to bond exceptionally well and stain block. Then, it is wise to switch to a latex coating for the second coat, as it can activate the 1st coat when using oil and give you dark lines or lousy coverage.
• The prep work is an essential part of the project. Protect anything you don’t want paint on, including masking off the floors and areas you will not be painting, like the walls or window sashes, among other items. Color can go flying up to 6 feet, so prepare appropriately.
• Again, the preparation makes all the difference. Make sure you are ready and have the items, products, and tools you need before beginning the project. 

DON’T try this at home if you lack the patience and the time to complete a project like this.

When you call a painter and have already started the project, they will not be excited to jump in where you left off and finish it!

If you live in Clevland, Ohio, you can always contact The Picky Painters for a fast, free estimate without leaving your home. It’s so easy it should almost be illegal.

Mention you found us with this blog, and we will give you a special discount.

Also, because these are labor-intensive projects, we have partnered with a bank to provide you with such a good deal we can even talk about it here!

Book below, Give us a call at 833-PICKY4U (742-5948) or email me [email protected]

Kitchen Cabinet Refinishing AKA Cabinet Painting and converting stained wood to painted wood have become our specialties. We have a similar process for both that require a minimum of 4 coats to get a lasting finish.

We not only refinish kitchen cabinets but do quite a bit of stain to paint projects. We do four full coats of primer and paint to get a lasting finish. What do you think of this project in North Olmsted? It looks much more modern and open with this fresh look.