Best paint for chest of drawers?

[TheLastMan]

I am trying to paint a chest of drawers to be used by my daughter. So it will be used heavily and roughly with lots of stuff dumped on top (makeup, bottles, tumblers etc) so the finish needs to be durable.

Ideally she would like a light cream semi-gloss / satin finish and not prone to yellowing.

I did the carcass and two drawers with Zinnser 123 bullseye primer and then two coats of Dulux water based "quick drying" satinwood over a week ago, but the paint is still soft and tacky. I tried placing one of the drawers back into the carcass today but the paint on the drawer sides stuck to the unpainted internal surface and part peeled off. I was hoping to be able to use the chest by now but concerned that the paint will not be durable.

How long should the paint take to harden properly, or will it always be soft and peelable?

If Dulux QD Satinwood is not the right paint what would be better?

Any help and advice gratefully received.

 

[emilybronte]

I'd normally use an oil based undercoat and two coats of oil based eggshell (preferably Little Greene or Dulux) for furniture as it is tough and durable, but if you want a white/cream and 100% guarantee it won't yellow, you need to use a waterbased acrylic eggshell or satinwood. Little Greene, Farrow and Ball or Johnstone's all do these and have a wide range of colours. You do however need to leave them about 2 weeks to 'cure' if you are not going to get marks and stains aftewrwards.

I would even consider using a proprietary cupboard paint for this job, as it's quick drying but pretty tough. International is good, in my experience.

Your other option if your daughter makes a lot of mess with coffee cups, make up etc, is to paint the item with whatever you want, then fit a glass top to the dressing table (safety glass, obviously) which is easily cleaned.

 

[TheLastMan]

I'd normally use an oil based undercoat and two coats of oil based eggshell (preferably Little Greene or Dulux) for furniture as it is tough and durable, but if you want a white/cream and 100% guarantee it won't yellow, you need to use a waterbased acrylic eggshell or satinwood. Little Greene, Farrow and Ball or Johnstone's all do these and have a wide range of colours. You do however need to leave them about 2 weeks to 'cure' if you are not going to get marks and stains aftewrwards.

I would even consider using a proprietary cupboard paint for this job, as it's quick drying but pretty tough. International is good, in my experience.

Your other option if your daughter makes a lot of mess with coffee cups, make up etc, is to paint the item with whatever you want, then fit a glass top to the dressing table (safety glass, obviously) which is easily cleaned.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I put the last coat of QD Dulux Satinwood on last Monday so it is less than a week. I assumed quick drying meant what it said! There was no indication on the tin that you need to leave it a long time to harden. Clearly I tried putting the drawers in too soon. I will give it two weeks before passing to my daughter. The glass top is good idea. I might see if I can find a local glazier to make one up.

Eggshell is a bit matt for what she wanted, otherwise I would probably have gone down that route.

I have previously used Dulux oil based Satinwood and been very happy with it apart from the yellowing effect. Somebody needs to come up with a harder substrate for water based paints than Acrylic if it takes that long to cure.

 

[TheLastMan]

[Deleted accidental duplicate]

 

[foxhole]

Preparation is the most important, ESP primes quick and easy and can be over painted with anything even emulsion [with varnish top coats.]