How to refinish a yellow-toned melamine dining table?

savi

Hi everyone, I recently bought a dining table that was advertised as ‘natural,’ but the tabletop looks more yellow than natural. I’d like to change the colour of the tabletop to a walnut finish. The material is engineered wood with a melamine finish. Could anyone please advise me on how to do this?

JacobZ

Hi @savi,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is fantastic to have you with us.

Unfortunately, there isn't going to be a great way to recolour your table to walnut while keeping the natural timber look because it is a melamine-coated product.

Melamine is a type of hard plastic coating that’s bonded onto a substrate, usually chipboard or MDF, to create a smooth, durable surface. Because it’s non-porous, it doesn’t absorb stains the way natural timber does. Instead, it comes pre-finished in different colours and patterns, often to emulate the look of raw timber. 

If you want to change the look to more of a walnut colour, painting is going to be your only real option because melamine will not absorb a stain like timber does. The downside to this is that you will not retain the natural timber look.

If you wanted to do this, you would need to use a specialised paint that is suitable for melamine. Your best option is the Dulux Renovations Range paints, which are typically used on melamine-coated cabinetry to alter the look of kitchens and bathrooms.

This system is comprised of a specialised Primer, followed by a topcoat Dulux Renovation Range Cabinet Doors. The topcoat can be tinted to 1000s of colours from the Dulux catalogue and comes in a variety of sheen levels. You could select a walnut colour from the Dulux catalogue such as Deep Walnut.

If you'd like to give this a try, check out Rejuvenate your cabinets with Dulux paint. The situation is different, but the process would be the same.

Let me know what you think.

Jacob