Question: I am making something for outdoor use and I've painted it with a matte exterior latex paint. I'm satisfied with the protection that the paint will offer but I'm experimenting with ways to make it look nicer.

Right now I am considering glossy finishes. I have found that I much prefer the appearance and texture of shellac (de-waxed) to a high gloss spar urethane.

I don't really need good scratch resistance for this particular piece, and the paint should protect the wood enough from moisture and sunlight.

I'm also not too concerned about color changes over time as long as it is uniform. The paint is just brown, and maintaining the precise brown isn't super important.

My question is, how should I expect a fairly thick shellac finish (over paint) to behave outdoors over time? It will be exposed to sunlight, a wide range of temperatures, and plenty of rain, snow, and ice. Should I expect flaking? Spotting? Blemishes (I've heard it gets cloudy with moisture)? Other weird stuff? Or will it maintain its nice appearance? If it does get grimy, will it be prone to staining (with polyurethane a good wipe down with an all purpose cleaner takes care of it)? 

I already own the paint and don't really want to buy another gallon of glossy paint; I'm trying to do this with the stuff I already have sitting around collecting dust on my shelves.

Answer: 
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> My question is, how should I expect a fairly thick shellac finish (over paint) to behave outdoors over time? It will be exposed to sunlight, a wide range of temperatures, and plenty of rain, snow, and ice.
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I'm going to reference [this thread](https://advice.thisoldhouse.com/showthread.php?8804-Urethane-over-Shellac-Shellac-over-Urethane-Shellac-outside) at This Old House for some of these answers.

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> Should I expect flaking?
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Yep. Shellac will trap moisture under the finish, which will cause the finish itself to bubble, flake, and peel over time.

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> Spotting? Blemishes (I've heard it gets cloudy with moisture)?
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Yep and yep. Besides the aforementioned issues with flaking/peeling, shellac does not like getting wet. If you've ever left a hot or a sweating beverage on a bare shellac-ed wood surface, you've seen the dreaded ring in the finish. Now imagine that, but all over, and most likely non-uniform. The clouding eventually disappears (or lessens), but that takes a while of non-wet conditions and low enough humidity or high enough heat to make it happen.

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> Other weird stuff? Or will it maintain its nice appearance?
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Varnishes (and other varnish-like finishes) just don't hold up well outdoors. The constant battering by UV rays and weather wreaks havoc on the film, which requires quite frequent maintenance to keep in anything resembling decent shape.

> 
> I already own the paint and don't really want to buy another gallon of glossy paint; I'm trying to do this with the stuff I already have sitting around collecting dust on my shelves.
> 
> 
> 

If you don't want to waste your time further down the road reapplying finish, I'd bite the bullet and get the correct product *now*.
Shellac is perhaps the worst choice for the outdoor use. If you ever set a wet glass on shellac finished furniture, you'll notice a white ring. Water softens shellac and overtime it will wear away from the surface. When it softens with water, it has a tacky feel which is a magnet for dust. When it dries, any dust or dirt essentially glues to it.

The lowest cost solution, is to just leave the paint as is and reapply it when it looks weathered. If the paint you're using is a good quality latex paint, it won't crack and flake off.

If you want a very durable and relatively inexpensive solution, get some polyurethane (preferably water-based, since it doesn't darken the color) and wipe or brush it on.