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.
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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 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
This looks fabulous, I love up cycling furniture and giving it new life. I can see why you struggled to decide on the knobs, so many fabulous designs. I think the two you selected are perfect.
#HomeEtc
Angela
Thanks so much Angela! It’s SO much fun isn’t it? I love seeing how something can be totally transformed with a little bit of time and a lick of paint :) xx
I love this Caro, so pretty. I painted my solid pine bedroom furniture a matt cream about 15 years ago and have never grown bored of it. I have the original un painted knobs on them now but I am thinking that a change might be nice! However, with so much choice it might take me a while xx
Oooh YES Lisa!!! Another update! :) The lovely thing about changing the hardware is, if you get bored of it after a couple of year, you can choose something else and change it again!! I look forward to seeing what you choose :) xx