Interior paint for paneling

[JunoBee]

Hello,

We just purchased a 2005 Bambi International with black-ish wood grain interior doors/cabinetry. I would like to paint the interior all white. Any ideas on what type of paint to use? Thx!

[Annie Bullet]

I also would like to paint the interior of my airstream. And was wondering what type of paint to use.

[skyguyscott]

So, any type of latex interior paint will do. Latex is easier to work with than oil-based paint and usually has less odor.

A couple of observations:

Some may try to discourage painting the panels and instead suggest removing them, sanding them down and staining with whatever color to preserve the wood grain appearance.

Some may discourage changing the color altogether to maintain the authenticity of the the CCD International line, the thinking being that it will negatively hit resale value.

Some may point out that replacing the black with white will certainly brighten up the interior, and make it harder to sleep.

But regardless of whether these concerns are valid, in the end, it is your trailer, so do what you think is best and will enhance your enjoyment of it. Just as everyone's house is different, so are their campers. Everyone has their own sense of style and taste, and different budgets to play with.

[Shermy1987]

The primer is what is important. Stix by Benjamin Moore is by far the best primer I have ever used and by a long shot. So much so, we painstakingly re stripped the walls of our trailer and re coated them with Stix as we had some flaking issues. Now you couldnt chip paint off the walls if you tried

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by JunoBee

2005 Bambi International with black-ish wood grain interior doors/cabinetry

Originally Posted by skyguyscott

Some may try to discourage painting the panels and instead suggest removing them, sanding them down and staining with whatever color to preserve the wood grain appearance.

Originally Posted by Shermy1987

Now you couldn't chip paint off the walls if you tried

I believe those "black-ish wood grain interiors" the OP is asking about are actually plastic laminate, not real wood or aluminum walls. I agree, primer is the key. Cleaning, prepping, sanding & an appropriate primer would be of the utmost importance because plastic laminate is generally not a suitable surface to be painted with out proper prep. Especially because of the severe temperature changes our Airstreams are subjected too.

I would recommend taking a sample (pull out a drawer or take off a door) to a real paint store (like Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore) to ask their recommendations for the most successful way to paint them. It would be a shame to go to all the effort to paint and then have it "not stick".

Wood, aluminum & plastic laminate will all require different prep &/or primers.

Shari

[cmrdgrs]

Originally Posted by JunoBee

Hello,

We just purchased a 2005 Bambi International with black-ish wood grain interior doors/cabinetry. I would like to paint the interior all white. Any ideas on what type of paint to use? Thx!

resurrecting this thread because I have a 2005 Safari and I'm assuming we have the same materials on our walls. If you see this post JunoBee -- did you try painting you interior walls? I'm considering the same and wondered if you had good results.

I'm concerned about durability and paint chipping. I've looked at the Insl-x Stix primer and that looks interesting and seems like a good choice. I'm not so sure about white walls because of dirt and grim -- although I've seen many redone trailers with white walls and love how it brightens things up and think it looks beautiful. Color combinations and picking "good" colors are not a strength for me. When I paint at home it's rare I feel like I nail it on the first try. So much of paint goes to light and other colors around it.

Curious if you can share an update on your project.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

One issue with any repaint job: What have you put on the walls / cabinets / whatever over the years. Things like Pledge leave a film on the surface. That needs to be taken off regardless of what the surface is and regardless of what the paint is.

Bob

[cmrdgrs]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

One issue with any repaint job: What have you put on the walls / cabinets / whatever over the years. Things like Pledge leave a film on the surface. That needs to be taken off regardless of what the surface is and regardless of what the paint is.

Bob

Excellent point uncle_bob! Since you commented on my thread about me lending my Airstream to my brother, you probably guessed a good cleaning - walls/cabinets and all surfaces are due for a really, really good cleaning!

At this point we're trying to decide whether to keep or sell our Airstream. I see lots of people paint the inside of their Airstream. I'm wondering how that holds up over time compared to the original laminate finish - which I don't love, but it has held up and has been durable.

[drbrick]

InsideOut is correct the interior walls are a type of plastic laminate which is typical for the CCD builds and will require a "paint" that will adhere to "plastic". Thanks to Uncle_Bob also for the heads up on possible "pledge type" cleaning/polishing that may have been done over the years.

[cmrdgrs]

Originally Posted by drbrick

InsideOut is correct the interior walls are a type of plastic laminate which is typical for the CCD builds and will require a "paint" that will adhere to "plastic". Thanks to Uncle_Bob also for the heads up on possible "pledge type" cleaning/polishing that may have been done over the years.

Stupid question drbrick -- what does CCD stand for?

[rmkrum]

Originally Posted by cmrdgrs

Stupid question drbrick -- what does CCD stand for?

Christopher C. Deam was one of the designers for Airstream. My 2007 International is a CCD design.

[drbrick]

CCD means Christopher C Deam design, all the modern designs we have since about 2000 or so is his influence on Airstream.

[cmrdgrs]

Originally Posted by drbrick

CCD means Christopher C Deam design, all the modern designs we have since about 2000 or so is his influence on Airstream.

Ah! Thank you!

[uncle_bob]

Hi

One "interesting" option in all this:

Can you just paint the cabinet doors and get a good look? Since you can pull them off and go (spray?) paint them elsewhere, the range of primers / paints you could use goes up a bit. There's also the somewhat off the wall approach of taking them over to the auto refinisher. The paints / primers used on plastic are pretty close to auto paint ....

There are a lot of places around here that will do pretty much the same thing for a residential kitchen. The body of the cabinets stays the same, the doors get swapped out. Never done that so no idea what the result looks like.

Bob