Expert: Eileen Cronk - 3/27/2009

Question
We have an old cedar armoire that we decided to paint and use for our daughters hanging clothes.  My husband sanded the entire piece and wiped it down.  He then painted a coat of white acryllic satin paint.  He noticed that the paint seemed "stained".  So he used a primer (prep rite pro block latex) on top of that.  Still the staining seeped thru.  He did another coat of white paint, and then polyurthane.  It looks awful!!  He's going to sand it down again and start with Kilz this time.  What are we doing wrong???

Answer
Hi Elle
Nice to hear from you.
You are not doing anything wrong.
Its the oils in the wood causing this.
I prefer the Kilz but I have had bleed through with it on occassion.
If there's another solution other than the Kilz I don't know what it would be short of painting the piece black.
Regards
Eileen