Veneer an item if furniture?

[TCruise]

I've got a rather ugly white melamine finished flat pack piece of furniture. But it's solid. Well designed. And serves it's purpose well.

I just want it to be prettier!

Is there anyone that would veneer it? As in buy sheets of veneer, cut them to size and apply it?

Or does that not exist. I've Googled, found lots of companies selling veneered wood, or bits of veneer, but no one applying it to current furniture.

Thanks

[loughran]

Intriguing. I suppose that being flat pack the piece of furniture can be disassembled and the panels veneered individually ?

There maybe an issue getting veneer to stick to a melamine finish ( maybe not ) and remember, when veneering panels it's important to veneer both sides otherwise warping and distortion will occur.

Perhaps a company that restores classic car dashboards may be able to help.

Do you have a photo of your piece of furniture ?

[Super Sonic]

Have you considered DIY using sticky back plastic type stuff?

[clockworks]

The last time I bought veneer (around 30 years ago!) it was horrendously expensive in bigger sheets. I was making an old-school wooden dashboard for a "classic" Mini, veneer over plywood. Easy enough to glue in place with decent pva wood glue.

[dhutch]

Super Sonic said:

Have you considered DIY using sticky back plastic type stuff?

I expect this is the only solution thats going to be cheaper than just replacing the whole item with a different one.

[DonkeyApple]

TCruise said:

I've got a rather ugly white melamine finished flat pack piece of furniture. But it's solid. Well designed. And serves it's purpose well.

I just want it to be prettier!

Is there anyone that would veneer it? As in buy sheets of veneer, cut them to size and apply it?

Or does that not exist. I've Googled, found lots of companies selling veneered wood, or bits of veneer, but no one applying it to current furniture.

Thanks

It's a diy job really. Most people opt for 'decoupage' which in simple terms means putting Nepalese, Tibetan or Peruvian headgear on, shoving a household object up the Aris and then covering the item with a trendy wallpaper. Herbal tea enthusiasts may favour painting with chalk paint so that their room starts to resemble a venue where bearded men wearing their mother's trousers can Klarna £20 beverages and discuss how much of their grandparent's money they've lost on crypto.

You can get wood effect vinyls, some of which aren't actually utterly gopping in quality.

Real wood veneers vary in price based on the size of the sheets and what wood they are. Book matched leaves of walnut coating more than sheets of birch that haven't yet been made into plywood.

The size and complexity of the unit is obviously key. A basic one draw bedside table would be at the simple end. One could use cheap birch on the sides and top, thicker birch strips for the front edges and then a more expensive, contrasting veneer for the drawer front.

Or just don the notes hat and cover the drawer fronts with wallpaper and for more expensive handles and be done.

[Fastpedeller]

You could use paint to make 'faux' wood - plenty of examples on youtube!

[Simpo Two]

By all means do it; I strongly recommend iron-on veneer. It won't warp the panels either.

Stick-on plastic will look st and come up on sharp corners.

[craigjm]

Hydrodip?

[hidetheelephants]

Simpo Two said:

By all means do it; I strongly recommend iron-on veneer. It won't warp the panels either.

Stick-on plastic will look st and come up on sharp corners.

Unless the OP has done veneering before it will look st regardless, it's tricky stuff.