A Chest of Drawers Makeover With Chalk Paint

Disclosure: I upcycled my IKEA chest of drawers with chalk paint I’d bought. But I was gifted some beautiful drawer-knobs to complete my chest of drawers makeover too. Trinca-Ferro have  so many lovely designs to choose from — pop along and grab some inspiration from their website.

The Easter bank holiday gave me so many opportunities to roll up my sleeves and get a little creative.

Four lovely long days, where my boy was at home to keep an eye on our tiny sons, which gave me the chance to crack on with some projects I’ve been contemplating for a while.

We made Easter bonnets and Easter salt dough decorations, to hang on a little tree.

Plus I tried my hand at flower arranging for a styling challenge.

But the thing I was most desperate to do, over the four day bank holiday, was a chest of drawers makeover.

How Can I Make My Chest Of Drawers Look Better?

We’ve had two  IKEA Hemnes tallboys for more than 15 years now and I love them — because they generously proportioned and can hold a lot of clobber — but they aren’t the most attractive pieces of furniture we own.

They’re pretty enormous, which was fine when we first bought them. Our first home was the first floor of beautiful Victorian mansion block; huge rooms, with 12ft high ceilings, warranted large pieces of furniture to fill the space.

More than a decade on and we live in a tiny cottage — with fairly low ceilings and modest room sizes — and as a result, one of these poor old chest of drawers now lives in the shed!

The other sits in my dressing area and was just looking a bit tired and — dare-I-say-it — orange boring.

chest of drawers makeover
The IKEA Hemnes chest of drawers (ignore the cardboard under one of the legs – we have wonky floors in our cottage!)
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.

Chest of Drawers Decorating Ideas

I figured it was time to give this badboy tallboy a makeover.

Pinterest is full of fabulous ideas showing things to do with an old chest of drawers. From vinyl wrap to decoupage chest of drawers don’t have to be dull and boring!

I wanted to get rid of the orangey pine finish — and dull handles — and treat it to a little up-cycling magic.

I’d seen lots of chest of drawers makeover ideas online and dresser painting ideas, so thought I’d bite the bullet and give it a new look.

A Chest of Drawers Makeover

chest of drawers makeover
1. I bought some chalk paint. Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is fab paint for a furniture makeover.
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
2. I also invested in a decent brush. A painted finish is much more professional with a quality brush.
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
3. I put some floor covering down as I was doing the chest of drawers makeover in our dressing room.
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
4. Gave the piece a first coat of paint. Fairly roughly — you don’t need to be too careful for the first coat.
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
And a second coat in Annie Sloan’s ‘Paris Grey’.
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
Next, I painted the drawers in ‘Old White’ — Annie Sloan again.
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
Chalk paint is perfect for a chest of drawers makeover — gives a lovely vintage, matt finish.
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
Painting all finished and waiting for drawer-knobs.
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.

For The Love of Upcycling

I was so pleased with it, once it had been painted.

Much fresher than it had looked in years and finally starting to look less like a mass produced piece of furniture and more like a lovely get a personality all of its own.

I’ve up-cycled furniture in the past, using Annie Sloan paint — have a look at my desk up-cycling project — and used the clear soft wax after I’d painted. This time though I left the paint in it’s raw state. I love the matt, chalky finish and didn’t want the sheen that the wax gives.

Also, rather than use the original handles, I’d decided to search for some new ones and came across a fabulous online shop, called Trinca Ferro. They have so many different styles of handle, I was totally spoilt for choice.

Here is a little selection of some of my faves.

chest of drawers makeover
All the pretties — so hard to choose!
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.

So many different kinds, I was like a kid in a sweetshop.

Ceramic, vintage, glass, bone , acrylic — in so many lovely shapes and designs. But I eventually narrowed it down to two that I really loved and kept coming back to.

chest of drawers makeover
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.

And — as very often happens, in life — I found it just too difficult to decide between them. So ended up having both. Vintage style drawer-knobs in pink and green candy colours with intricate patterns.

They look so beautiful against the grey and old white and, in retrospect, it would have looked a bit bland to just have the same kind of design.

The two different colours and styles sit so nicely together.

chest of drawers makeover
My chest of drawers makeover complete!
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
chest of drawers makeover
My IKEA Hemnes chest of drawers — post makeover
Photo Credit: The Listed Home.
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Caro Davies is a former art-director turned writer and content-creator, and editor behind UK lifestyle blog The Listed Home. She writes about home-related topics, from interiors and DIY to food and craft. The Listed Home has been featured in various publications, including Ideal Home, Grazia, and Homes & Antiques magazines.

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49 thoughts on “A Chest of Drawers Makeover With Chalk Paint”

  1. They look lovely! I wish I had the confidence to do this, I have 2 sets of shelves that I want to replace for the lounge, but there is nothing wrong with them (apart from maybe being a big short-but that’s just me being fussy!) I keep thinking about giving them a bit of a makeover but I am so unsure whether I am patient enough! xx

    • Aaah do it Clare!! You could even make them taller and paint the whole lot so no-one would ever know! I LOVE giving furniture a makeover — lovely to see something get a new lease of life! x

  2. Oh my! I love this make-over, so stunning. I love Annie Sloane paint, we’ve upcycled a Welsh Dresser & Sideboard for our kitchen although it was before I started blogging so didn’t take any photos :( #HomeEtc

    • Thanks lovely — it’s weird isn’t it? I know some people who absolutely hate it and don’t like the finish it gives but I LOVE it!! :)

      Shame you don’t have any before pics of your dresser. I think I was destined to be a blogger!!! I’ve been taking pictures of things — in progress — for years and years!! It’s so nice to be able to finally do something with all these photographs now I have my blog!! :) x

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