Can a black finish (veneer) be painted to a cherry finish?

[slackerinabox]

Dad ordered an entertainment center that he thought was in cherry but ended up being black (not black laminate but a black wood texture over compressed wood). Shipping it back will cost a pretty penny since he ordered incorrectly, so I was wondering if painting it would be a good idea.

Is this possible or will it just look like crap?

 

[Leros]

If it was normal wood, he could sand it down and stain it himself, but I'm not sure what you can do with compressed wood.

 

[mugs]

Cherry + paint does not compute.

 

[imported_LoKe]

Might be able to strip the finish and re-do it.

 

[nakedfrog]

Buy veneer and replace FTW?

 

[Squisher]

The black is probably a textured paper glued to the fiberboard.

You'll never get cherry out of that unless you veneer and then unless it's all flat work it'll be near impossible.

Send it back.

 

[Tiamat]

either send it back, or buy a cherry veneer (very expensive), or try to find a good cherry vinyl.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Buy veneer and replace FTW?

Yeah you'd have to veneer it, which is not a job for the inexperienced if you expect decent results.

Black loks better than cherry anyway. Cherry furniture is 80's unless it's that sweet anqitued cherry like Bombay (RIP) has.

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: Squisher
The black is probably a textured paper glued to the fiberboard.

You'll never get cherry out of that unless you veneer and then unless it's all flat work it'll be near impossible.

Send it back.

^ is likely right. short of stripping off the black, or sanding off the finish down to wood if it isn't paper you'll have to either add wood if it isn't to stain cherry or get a different paper finish

short: it's not worth it.