Colour pop dresser
I have been dying to sink my teeth into a new up-cycle project for so long and use the new Duramax paints from Dulux (i've heard good things and the colours are amazing). I decided with this piece that I would post a before photo on our Facebook page and ask our followers what they would like to see. It was really cool to hear what people would recommend we had recommendations of greys, blacks, chalkboard, chalk paint and then one person said white with pastels. The Dulux colour range is more vibrant but worked perfectly!
The prepping stage
When you get to prepping your furniture this often confuses people as they don't know if they have to send the piece or if they can spray directly onto it. I always sand my furniture lightly if it doesn't have many blemishes. You can remove the coating completely if it is old and flaking. I highly recommend an orbital sander for this or if you're sanding it lightly just use a 180 grit sand paper so you lightly break the clear film so the paint will stick better.You should always undercoat your furniture using the matching undercoat for the paint that you are about to use. If you are wanting to have vibrant colours use a white under coat, if you are wanting your colour to be mid toned much like the cap shows - use a Grey undercoat.
Painting after undercoated
Now for the fun stage and in our case we had three different colours: yellow blue and pink. I marked on the inside of the drawers where they were positioned in line with each other originally so I wasn't painting two blues and two pinks right beside each other. I painted all the blues first one coat then I put them aside and painted the pinks and then the yellows by this stage the paint was hard enough to apply a second coat on the blue, this is the advantage of using Duramax by Dulux.Once the draws were all painted I put them away inside and started painting the shell. It's really important here to make sure that anything you have already painted is well out of the way of spray - trust me the stuff can travel miles. You want to be aiming to paint your furniture with three coats minimum, once you have finished painting your three coats you can then use an acrylic over gloss to harden the topcoat and prevent any scratching/chipping in the future.
If you're eager like me and want to get it into the house to style straight away.... Don't do it!!!! You want to be keeping your furniture in the garage or a room for at least three days before putting anything on it to ensure that it has off-gassed and the paint has hardened 100%. Trust me this will avoid any heartache from paint chipping or denting.
Let us know what you think of our finished piece. We are so happy with it, it may possibly be one of our favourite pieces. Using multiple colours like this is a really cool way of bringing something different into your home without having to pay for everything to be in a new colour scheme. The multiple colours will suit any space, and what's best is you have a one-off piece and everyone wants it.Paint can be purchased from DULUX.CO.NZ or your local Bunnings / ask for the duramax range.