Upcycle your chest of drawers with a pink and monochrome makeover

Transform an old chest of drawers into a modern painted masterpiece with this super easy upcycle

Published: September 17, 2020 at 10:21 am

Found a second-hand chest of drawers in need of a little TLC? Now it’s time for the fun part! Get sanding, filling and priming, and be creative with paint for a purse-happy makeover. Combine candy pink with a hand-painted monochrome confetti effect to give it a bold, graphic look, and swap the plain handles with leather tab pulls. The result? Instagram-worthy storage.

You will need...

  • Satin or eggshell paint in white, pink and black
  • Shellac-based primer
  • Flat paintbrush
  • Flat artist's brush
  • 0.5cm roller
  • Wood filler
  • Scraper
  • Sugar soap
  • Cloth
  • Sandpaper, 120 grit
  • Tack cloth
  • Leather scraps
  • Leather punch
  • Gold eyelets
  • Screwdriver
  • Screws
  • Painter’s tape
  • Mask
  • Gloves
  • Tape measure

Step 1

Use a well-ventilated workspace and cover the floor and surrounding surfaces before you start. Remove all the old hardware from the furniture. Spray the surface with sugar soap and leave for around a minute to lift any dirt and grime on the surface. Wipe with a lightly dampened cloth.

Step 2

Wearing a mask and gloves, sand the surface in the direction of the grain with a medium sanding block or sandpaper that’s around 120 grit. Sand every area that will be painted. With the brush attachment on the vacuum cleaner, vacuum the dust from sanding the piece. Clean the area you’re painting in as well. With a tack cloth, remove any leftover dust from sanding.

Step 3

Fill the holes left by the old handles using wood filler and a scraper. Use the corner of the scraper to push some wood filler into the hole. With a small amount of wood filler on the scraper, scrape along the surface of the hole to make sure it’s flush with the rest of the drawer surface. Repeat this step for any other holes left on the original hardware.

Step 4

Using painter’s tape, mark off any areas you don’t want to get paint on, such as the edges of the drawers and the inside where the drawers slide in. Priming is one of the most important steps. With a flat paintbrush, apply primer, painting around all the awkward areas first, then cover the larger areas with the roller. Leave to fully dry, then apply a second coat.

Step 5

Once dry, sand with fine sandpaper to remove any uneven surfaces, then remove the dust with the tack cloth. Paint the areas to be kept white using the same methods as above. Apply two coats, leaving to dry in between each. Once dry, tape around the chest of drawers on top of the white paint to section off, ready to paint the pink area – use the main image as a guide and a tape measure to make sure the line is kept straight.

Step 6

Using the roller and the pink paint, cover the rest of the chest of drawers, swapping to a brush for the legs if required. Apply two coats of paint. After the second coat, remove the painter’s tape immediately and leave to fully dry.

Step 7

While the pink paint is drying, paint the black confetti detail onto the white section. With a flat artist’s brush, paint black strokes of roughly the same length in different directions, using the main image as a guide.

Step 8

Cut the leather into 2.5 x 10cm strips – you’ll need one to replace each of the original handles. With a pair of scissors, round off all the corners. Fold the leather with the top part folding over the end, as shown, and punch the leather where it overlaps, adding a gold eyelet to hold it in place. Using a pencil, lightly mark the placement of the new handles on the drawers. With a screwdriver, add a screw to attach each handle firmly in place.

 

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