Painting MDF

It’s Simple and It’s Easy

Painting MDF can be slightly different from regular wood because of it's unique makeup. Thankfully, different doesn't mean difficult :o) It’s a wonderful surface for the decorative painter.

MDF is such a smooth and dense wood composite. This means that imperfections are rare and can be filled with wood filler, just like regular wood. Also, it needs no sanding or very little.

Any sanding will likely be in the routered areas. See all that intricate lacework on the large snowflake? This is where you'd need to sand. A great tip is to first use an acrylic spray-on sealer, like Krylon. Then scrub carefully with a soft nailbrush to get rid of the fuzziness in those areas. Even a kitchen scrubbie would do!

The dust from MDF does contain urea formaldehyde. Any sanding should be done in a well-ventilated area or use a respirator mask, as an added safety measure. Actually, you should be careful with wood too! Then of course, wipe down with a tack cloth.

Whether or not you seal before painting MDF is a matter of choice. If you choose not to seal, just know it will soak up the paint. Please try to stay out of the water, since it raises the fibers. Some sealers contain too much water resulting in fuzziness, and others can leave noticeable ridges.

We've had success with Jo Sonja Clear Glazing Medium (preferably no water) mixed in with the first layer of paint. As always, you want your basecoats to go on as smoothly and quickly as possible.

After that, it was just a matter of basecoating as usual and carrying on with the painting. This gorgeous Christmas Pears project was designed by Audrey Bettin, CDA. It's stunning! It was originally done on a velvet cushion.

After painting MDF that will be kept indoors, it's OK to use your regular varnish. We like three coats. For this project we chose a satin finish.

If you want your MDF project to survive the great outdoors, you'll need several coats of exterior varnish. Then we suggest you apply another protective layer every year. It’s worked for us! Also, it's a good idea to fill any drilled holes for hardware with clear caulking.

So there you go! Painting MDF is that easy! To learn more, go to our MDF wood page if you haven’t done so already. We have a whole section on preparing wood of all descriptions as well. Otherwise, see what else is on our Home page that’s of interest!

And of course, do contact us with any questions, concerns or cool tips of your own you’d like to share.