Forum Archive: Posts by: ylt3

My boyfriend bought a beautiful vinatage steel cabinet a couple of weeks back — our new apartment is extremely limited in cabinet space, so we wanted the piece to store kitchen items (bowls, cutting boards, silverware, etc.).

The outside is stripped, but the inside is painted…and chipping. Given the age of the piece (50+ years?), I’m concerned that the chipping paint on the interior contains lead. To help assuage my fears, he painted over all unstripped surfaces with primer (one designed to seal porous surfaces).

Anyone have any experience with vintage furniture and lead paint? Will the primer be a safe seal, considering we’ll be keeping kitchen items inside?