The wife and I have been discussing doing a bit of a makeover for our camper. Our 2001 Bigfoot has paper veneer face wood cabinets that we think we want to paint to a gloss white. I was wondering if anyone has taken on this task with a similar type of surface. Should we do a light sanding on the surface first? Since it's a veneer, I wasn't certain if sanding would be helpful or not.

Surface preparation has always been my mantra....anything to really clean and lightly ruff up the surface. TSP back in the old days.

Is the veneer actual wood, or is it that stick-on wood-look stuff? You will definitely need to give it a light sanding. Or you could try a liquid deglosser, although I have never found one that was very effective. Much easier, though, if you find a good one.You will also need an extra sticky primer, like Kilz-2 or Gripper. My most important tip: Do sample patches. Lightly sand, degloss in a eparate area if you are trying that. Then do a patch each of a few different primers. Leave them overnight, then come back in the morning and try to scratch them off. Try your fingernail first. If you can't scratch the primer off with your nail, try scratching gently with something metal. Don't gouge the wood :-). But you want to choose the primer that will really stay on there. If you use something that scratches off easily you will be very disappointed in a year!

My experience is that cabinets are often wood veneer which is just a thin layer of wood. Prep and paint accordingly. In my rig I found that some rounded corners were actually a plastic material that looked like wood - that might require a different approach.

If its paper or vinyl sanding may only cause it to fuzz. Jasco makes a liquid TSP no rinse product I've had good luck with, thou I rinse off. Doesn't so much degloss but does well to degrease. Zinsser Bulls Eye 123 water base primer sticks to almost anything.Most water base products require a few days or longer to survive scratch test-longer it sets the more it cures. I haven't painted camper but its not unique to what could be painted.Sounds like work...

My wife was a processional painter long ago, and she wanted to paint the interior of my old dark wood drab camper... I was skeptical but turned her loose to do as she pleased. She gave literally all of it a scrub and good primer and did aqua tone colors, a light teal base with an aqua metallic trim that looks amazing and has held up well for several years so far. Don’t be afraid of a little color. The transformation of mine is incredible, everyone loves it. She did the full “glamper” treatment with matching curtains and upholstery and bedding. Go for it. Campers, especially older ones, come so drab and ugly.

Painting the Interior | Good Sam Community

AnEv942
Nomad
Sep 13, 2018
Under her profile is listed her blog, some pretty impressive stuff shes done,
Both to and with the camper.
https://ramblinanne.com/yowie/renovation/ specifically to interior
RamblinAnne
Explorer
Sep 15, 2018
Hey thanks! Appreciate the link and compliment! You can also look at my Instagram: Instagram.com/ramblinanne
I just posted an interior pic on there.
adamis
Nomad II
Sep 17, 2018
RamblinAnne wrote:
Hey thanks! Appreciate the link and compliment! You can also look at my Instagram: Instagram.com/ramblinanne
I just posted an interior pic on there.

I am envious of your project and hope to emulate it soon when I have the time! One thing... I looked at your blog and you have a lot of pics of the work in progress but unless I missed something obvious, I didn't see any real detail pics of the work completed. I'd really like to see how the floor turned out as well, what you did for the back splash and how the bed looks. Will you be adding those pictures soon?

Forum Discussion

Painting the Interior

About Travel Trailer Group

Related Content

Interior Design – Painting

Painting interior??

Painting interior of brand new camper

Bowed interior wall

Truck Camper interior lights