Tutorial: Painting Furniture {anyone can do it!!}

Howdy howdy All Things Thrifty Readers! Beth here again, from Sawdust and Embryos! Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s hard to believe a whole month has passed since we had our very first contributing post where we featured our Woodgrain Coffee Table. And we’re totally stoked to be back for a brand new furniture makeover to share with y’alls!

So my friend brought us this serious clunker of a dresser. Solid, chunky and 80’s if I do say so myself. She wanted us to make it purrrty for her impending baby girl to use as a changing table in their nursery!

P3102784

She had purchased this absolutely adorable bedding for the nursery, and wanted us to coordinate the crib sheet into our design for the changing table. Isn’t this bedding absurdly cute?

bedding

Image source

The dresser had some funky-weird engraved designs on a couple drawers that needed to be gone… like yesterday.

P3112788

P3112790

IMG_0836

So after wood-puttying/sanding about 5 times, and lightly sanding the whole dresser and drawers, we primed with Kilz, and painted the whole thing a lovely shade of Krylon Peekaboo Blue. Easy enough, no?

P3142844

Then, using a photograph of the crib sheet, I cropped it around one of the roses and printed the image blown up to 8.5 x 11, and then traced the flower onto a transparency via Sharpie! Do you see where I’m going with this?

P3102767 - Copy

P3142851

You guessed it. With my handy overhead projector I blasted the flower image asymmetrically onto the dresser (similar to our very own changing table in our twin girls’ nursery!). When I had it just where I wanted it, I used a pencil to lightly trace! Or if you’re super-human, consider freehanding it and let me know how that works for ya!

P3152889

P3152892

Then I got busy painting, using simple Folk Art acrylic paints. Obviously the more complex your design, the more time-consuming and tedious things become. But the outcome is soooooo worth it! No creativity needed! ANYBODY can do this. All you need is a relatively steady hand!

P3162948

P3152895

The original hardware wasn’t altogether unfortunate, but it was just a little too… brass. Ain’t nothin’ a little sanding, priming and painting white wouldn’t fix! And whatdoyaknow? It looks amazing! I was worried we might need to hunt down some perfect hardware… but NO! Lucky break for sure.

P3162960
Pin It

P3162970

Pin It

rochelle's changing table

So there you have it! Just a quick little makeover by us over here at Sawdust and Embryos! Check out our other projects that we’ve used the overhead projector for here, or just feel free to stop over and shuffle through some of our other furniture transformations and various tutorials! Thanks for letting us stop in!

Published on March 17, 2012

45 thoughts on “Tutorial: Painting Furniture {anyone can do it!!}”

  1. That is amazzzzzinnnng. I cant even believe how great that came out. Where do you get an overhead projector though? Seems like I need one. And since I dont have one, I wonder how I could make the same effect. Although Im an artist, freehand would be dangerous lol

  2. I LOVE this transformation! Stunning!

    I wonder if I could REALLY pull that off, even with the right tools…

  3. OMG, I love this!! Fantastically creative and gorgeous! Those carvings on those old 80's dressers intimidate me, but there is hope after seeing this!!

  4. WOW!!!! That is Sooo creative and unique. I am totally motivated to finally paint my son's dresser now. Not with flowers, of course, lol!

  5. This is so fabulous I'm getting palpitations!!! I can't believe how great this turned out and seeing the before picture makes me want to scream cuz I've passed up soooo many pieces like this! You guys are just blessed with talent, skill, patience and creativity – thank you for sharing this!

  6. WOW WEE, how magnificently beautiful your transformation is. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVEEEEE it. I’ve wanted an overhead for years, now I understand more clearly as to the reason why. The color choice is spectaular in my opinion.

  7. Just found your blog. This is so much fun , checking out all your fantastic projects!!! I am retired, and we are just completing a vacation lake home and am I crazy for all the cottage furnishings! I,ll be checking out your methods, keep up the good work. It,s great that there are still gals out there with such wonderful skills and imaginations!! Thanks

Leave a comment!

Keep the conversation going! Your email address will not be published.

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.