How to get touch up paint to blend nicely - tulipwood

[BucksDad]

We have tulipwood face frame kitchen with MDF panels. I tried touching up one of the cabinets today with some paint from the original tin used (tikkurila) and even after it's dried, looking at it from certain angles, the touch ups are really obvious - it's worse with the eye than this photo shows as well.

I think these cabinets were a combination of sprayed / rolled by the original painter. So I've just brushed some on.

What technique should I be using to make these touchups blend / invisible?

 

[gregmcateer]

I'm no expert, but would guess you'll need to use the same application technique. If sprayed and you can't, then POSSIBLE a gentle roll might work. Probably you'll need to at very least paint the whole door. MIGHT just about hide the touch up, but will depend on how the light hits it.

Dr Bob on this forum will probably be able to give you some expert advice.

Failing that, hang a tea towel over it, sigh and accept the inevitability of the patina of life 'changing' the look of your lonely kitchen.

 

[Lazurus]

Air brush and blend into the surrounding area?

 

[RichardG]

From my experience painting kitchen doors there are two issues. Firstly if the door is wood and grain shows through the paint then any repairs are often smoother that the door and reflect the light and seem to jump out at you. Secondly always paint a whole door part, i.e. paint the whole frame and or the whole panel. Trying to blend a repair it is very difficult unless you are skilled in the technique. I always got good results with a mini roller or a spray can.

 

[AES]

In my (limited) experience, touching up just about any type/colour of paint on just about any surface to arrive at an invisible blend is VERY difficult.

Airbrushing MAY be a way (if you have access to one), but I have often had such troubles myself (I do have a decent airbrush and compressor). In fact I have such a problem right now on a couple of our kitchen cabinets which were custom-made MDF and sprayed (NOT by me). Although I have some of the original paint, touch ups have not been "invisible" infortunately.

I suspect that even in our particular not sun-drenched kitchen, the colour does "fade"/change shade a little over time - in our case it's "sunshine yellow" and about 15+ years since installation.

I suggest you contact Peter Millard ("10 Minute Workshop" on YouTube, and a member here) as he's a professional, specialising in custom cabinets of all types, and in 99% of cases (100%?) colour sprayed on to MDF. Don't know him personally but from his posts here and from watching many of his vids, he seems a decent, impartial knowledgeable bloke who speaks exactly what he's found out from his own experience.

And there are a couple of other experienced professional makers/painters/installers of such cabinets here. Between them all you should be able to get some good steers.

HTH - that problem really IS a "buggXXXXX er" isn't it!

 

[BucksDad]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, very helpful and unfortunately, as I expected!

 

[Fergie 307]

Richard is spot on. If it's just the upright then you need to mask it off at the joint lines and paint the whole thing. The joint lines will help disguise any slight difference. Practice on a piece of scrap using different techniques so you can replicate the surface finish, is if there is slight orange peel etc. Any difference in finish is as important as a difference in colour as the light will reflect off it differently. Colour matching is a pain. The original paint will fade, so even if you have some of the original paint, it won't match exactly. If you tint it now to get an exact match then that too will fade in time and so turn out slightly different. One idea of your doors are all the same would be to swap the repaired one with one that is in a less exposed position, where the lighting may make it less obvious. Plain colours on a smooth surface are always the worst. Any texture or difference in colouring makes life a lot easier. Attached is a repair I made on an old oak clock case which had had a chunk taken out of it. The edge moulding was detatched, you can still see a bruise in the very edge of the moulding. The damage was at the spot adjacent to the edge where it is now slightly lighter in colour. whatever had broken the moulding away had left a semi circular chunk missing out of the case about the size of a 10p and a smaller piece out of the joint edge of the moulding. These were filled with an epoxy filler and then grained using a needle. The repair was then painted using Humbrol enamels, mixed to give to correct colour match. This was done a couple of years ago, and matched perfectly at the time, but has since faded slightly. Much easier as it's a rustic piece with pronounced grain and different shades in the wood, all of which help disguise it.

 

[Flynnwood]

Touch ups won't work. Just give it another coat.

 

[JonOuk]

I could of painted this depending on where you are, this is my bread and butter.
It’s too big an area in a obvious place to just touch up.
It needs respraying.
If you have the paint, a professional would have it like new in an hour. Depending on the type of paint, you could pick it up in the afternoon…

 

[JonOuk]

And take the door off

 

[Peri]

And take the door off

I read that it a Michael Caine accent