Welcome our first Themed Furniture Makeover Day of 2016! You might remember that back in November we were asked to join an extremely talented group of furniture painters where each month we each paint a piece of furniture following a specific theme. This month’s theme is “shades of white”, and we decided to create this pretty Black and White French nightstand.
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We started with this cute little French nightstand that we picked up at the thrift store. Don’t let her cuteness fool you though. Girlfriend is built like a linebacker. Solid wood and heavy.
There were quite a few deep gouges around the top edge of the piece. I simply filled them in with wood filler then sanded it smooth. (THIS is our favorite wood filler, and THIS is our favorite sander). While I had the sander out I decided to scuff up the whole piece because it had a high gloss finish and I wanted to make sure it took the paint nicely.
I painted the entire piece with several coats of Annie Sloan’s “Old White” chalk paint, then I decided to decoupage the drawer fronts.
We had this really cool Tim Holtz tissue paper in our stash. One of the neat things about it is that it’s stronger than regular tissue paper. I was able to manipulate it a lot more than regular tissue paper and it didn’t rip (which was a good thing because the drawer front was wavy and really hard to decoupage). It also comes packaged just like a roll of aluminum foil, so you can roll out and cut however much you need.
Here’s the plain painted drawer front.
Not sure if you can see it in the pictures, but the center portion of the drawer front is raised. I only wanted to decoupage the raised portion, so I cut the tissue paper just slightly larger than the raised area, then used mod podge to adhere it to the drawer. I made sure to mod podge exactly to the edge of the raised portion so I could easily remove the excess paper.
Once the mod podge was dry, I used a sander to gently go around the edges of the raised area. This basically cut the paper right at the edge so I could pull the extra off. And since I was planning to distress the table, I wasn’t worried if the edge of the paper wasn’t perfectly straight. Any little imperfections on the edges of the paper end up looking intentional when you distress.
I used my sander to distress the rest of the table, then spray painted the original hardware using Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. I also picked up this spray sealer and gave the hardware a couple coats to protect them. This is the first time I’ve used this sealer, but so far I think I like it for quickly giving painted hardware a layer of protection.
I used General Finishes top coat to seal the rest of the piece.
Ready to see what the rest of the DIY Furniture Girls came up with for their “Shades Of White” makeovers? Check out the pictures below, and if you want to see the full tutorial for any project just click on the picture.
Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!
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Amy – you’ve done it again! Your beautiful linebacker is gorgeous! Love all of the curves and detail – you really enhanced her beauty with her new white finish and that pretty tissue paper. Well done friend!
Thank you!! <3
I would have passed that piece up and now that I see what you have done with it, I will be looking harder at pieces like this. Great makeover!
Thanks Lyndsay 🙂
You can’t beat the effectiveness of tissue paper! Great job on bringing that worn out piece back to life, Amy. 🙂
This is a work of art! Love all of the interest and detail. Kudos, ladies!!
Beautifully done! It looks so elegant! Absolutely lovely 🙂
Hope you have a great day!
Smiles!
Terry
SUCH a pretty piece! LOVE it!!!
What a perfect French makeover! The tissue paper is gorgeous on the drawer fronts! Bravo!
This is GORGEOUS! You did such a great job with the tissue paper. I’m sure it wasn’t as easy as you make it look! Thanks for sharing, Cynthia
I have that same paper and I haven’t used it yet! Now I know how it will look – so thank you! Your nightstand is lovely!
Gorgeous as always!! Love the addition of the tissue paper! XO
Amy, you’ve done it again! What a gorgeous makeover – just love the tissue paper you decoupated onto the drawer fronts!
Amy, you’ve done it again – what a gorgeous makeover!!! I just love the tissue paper you decoupaged onto the drawer fronts. Another stunning furniture piece – well done.
Amy, this piece is stunning. It would be a fortune in a boutique furniture store. Great tutorial too.
Love it Amy! Your staging is pretty great too 😉
I’m completely in LOVE. Black and white has my number…so wonderful!!!
Thanks Kim! I’m a sucker for black and white together too :).
SO pretty and I am really intrigued by this tissue paper!!!
I love using paint and paper together! I think this is one of my favourites in the white category! Such a pretty update!
Thank you so much, Lucy!
Wonderful transformation! You took it from heavy, stodgy ‘linebacker’ to pretty and distinctive. I especially like the black and white tissue decoupage- that was the perfect touch.
Thanks so much, Melissa!
Beautiful!!! I love adding tissue paper for a wow effect!! Great job, love the paper you chose!! 🙂
xo
Nancy
Thanks Nancy!
This is just beautiful and so feminine! Love the tissue paper you choose too. I need to try this technique and will be thrilled if it comes out as nice as yours.
Thank you, Wendi! It’s such a fun technique. I’m sure yours will turn out beautiful, as always :).
Beautiful job! The light color brings out the pretty details and I love the tissue paper you used!
Thanks so much, Shanna!
Love this dresser. Great job as always. Quick question. Did you sand the entire dresser before painting? Thanks
Thanks BonBon! I actually did sand the entire dresser before painting because it had a really high gloss finish. I didn’t sand it much, just scuffed it up. I should have mentioned that in the post and I already went back and edited to add it :).
Thank Amy. I am wanting to try some painting on some furniture pieces that I have. I haven’t ever used the chalk paint but want to give it a try. I am always afraid of the shine that some of the furniture pieces have. Thanks for the great tutorials on painting furniture. I always read all of them.
Hi Amy another quick question….when finished do you only put one coat of top coat finish to protect the dresser and do you use a matte or satin finish? Thank you
Hey Bonbon, I always do 2-3 coats. And I use both but usually prefer flat (or matte).
Thanks for the information.
Anytime, friend 🙂
Those French Provincial pieces are so popular right now! What a great find. I love the addition of the paper on the drawer fronts. Very cute! Thanks for linking up to #FridaysFurnitureFix!
Thanks so much, Melanie! So happy I found your link party :).
Amy, what a sweet little piece! Nice work with the decoupage…that can be tricky. Good eye on spotting that little diamond in the rough. She’s got great curves for a linebacker! ; )
Another gorgeous transformation! And tissue paper?! Wow! You should tag these posts on instagram with a before and after for #itssouglyitscool – a thrift score challenge makeover I am a part of. Thanks for linking up to The Pretty Preppy Party – great job! -Rachael
Thanks, Rachael! And thanks for letting me know about the IG challenge. I hadn’t heard of it before and I’ll definitely tag some projects there.
Oh really?! Well then I better remind you to tag #prettyprojectparty too! I just assumed you knew! Thanks again 🙂
I love this makeover. I’ve been purchasing pieces to makeover, and I find your blog very informative and inspirational. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Thank you so much, Rhonda!
Hi Amy, do you have any tips on how to sand furniture with lots of detail/edges? For instance, this piece has some detail on the legs, how did you get that sanded well enough to make sure the paint sticks?
I love love love your work btw, so inspiring!!
Hi Lauren! You don’t typically have to sand prior to using chalk paint, and I usually don’t sand unless the finish is really funky and needs to be removed. If I’m worried about the paint adhering properly I prime it. I like and use any of the zinsser brand primers most of the time. If I’m going to distress the piece I usually use the bullseye shellac because it’s transparent. If you use a primer that dries white you’ll see if when you distress. If I really need to distress something like details on legs I have a dremel rotary tool that works great. Hope that helps!!