What???! Not another furniture painting DIY?!!!

I can almost see your face and that finger trying to click on Delete button. But look at that photo first.

Like this furniture painting DIY? Then stick around and I will tell you step by step how to do it yourself. It’s very easy and you don’t even need a Frog tape for it!

All you will need is

• some paint (as always I used Annie Sloan paint, this time in Pure White and Graphite),
• a paint brush,
• a wax and a clean cloth
• some sellotape

Obviously you will need something to do your furniture painting DIY on. I chose a bedside cabinet (well, not just bed-side as it had many uses over the years and it was recently  stored in the darkest corner of our loft).

It all started with a photo of a striped black and white cabinet that I saw on Instagram. Those of you who like to scroll through Instagram photos know too well that if you see something on Insta you just can “unsee” it, it sticks in your head for a long time. And as the place is full of beautiful photos of gorgeous real homes, you can stay green with envy or try to replicate it in your own home. Usually the first is much easier done. But not this time! (said a little green voice inside me) This time I will make it work in my home too. And I did! Ant this is how…

Step by step guide of my yet another furniture painting DIY

As my cabinet looked rather shabby (and that’s not the look I was going for this time) I gave it a quick lick of white paint, just to refresh it and to cover the stains and years of abuse (yep, this poor thing saw it all, from coffee mug circles to kids drawings). After just twenty minutes it looked like new (well, almost!)

Then obviously you need to wait for the paint to dry. I’m a very inpatient person and usually don’t wait more than just 30 minutes before applying a next coat of paint. This time however I knew I had to stick tape to this freshly painted cabinet, so I left it for more than couple of hours before picking up the paint brush  again. So if you want to try this idea make sure that the paint is thoroughly dry before the next step.

Creating stripes

Obviously my first thought was to use a masking tape, like normal people do. Unfortunately the one I had at home was very wide and I wanted to create much narrower stripes. So after rummaging  through my kids craft box I found some coloured isolating tape which was the perfect width so I decided to use it. (Don’t ask me why that isolating tape was in my kids box?!)

I stuck the tape to the top of the cabinet only (making sure I left the same width gaps between them) and as I’m so inpatient I started painting with Annie Sloan Graphite paint (which is almost black).  Then I quickly removed the tape and was stunned by the effect.

Couple of minutes later I was  stunned by the fact that I run out of that isolating tape (grrr…)

So then I not only had to find something to finish the project, but it also had to be exactly the same width as the tape I used for the top of the cabinet. Otherwise it would look silly (and that’s also not the look I was going for either).

So another rummage through the craft box. At some point I was even considering to use my daughter’s entire collection of washi tape (and then I would be banished from her room forever). Luckily I found a solution in a roll of sellotape! It was the same width. My only worry was that it would stick to the paint too much and ruin it or that it would leak. I’m happy to confirm – that did not happen. In fact the sellotape was so good at keeping the paint in lines that it moved from the craft box to the tool box for good.

So skip that isolating tape idea and use sellotape for your furniture painting DIY instead!

So with that problem sorted I started sticking the tape to the rest of the cabinet, creating stripes. (Again – make sure the stripes that suppose to be white are the same width as the ones you’re painting black)

When you have all the strips ready on the cabinet you can start painting.

You can create horizontal or vertical stripes or try both directions to make it more interesting.

When that’s done remove all the tape.

Make sure you touch up with paint where needed.

Then all that’s left to do is to protect your freshly upcycled cabinet. As always I used a clear wax from Annie Sloan collection. Only this time I left the cabinet over night before doing so. As my method is to rub the wax into the furniture with a clean cloth I was afraid that by doing it too soon the black paint would transfer on to the white stripes. And obviously I didn’t want that. I wanted a nice crisp finish. So I waited (and believe me, waiting is not something that comes naturally to me).

When you use the same waxing method make sure you’re rubbing the wax in the direction of the lines, so it’s less likely you transfer the black paint with your cloth.

And that’s it! Easy, right? Remember that not every furniture painting DIY has to be the same so sometimes it’s worth sticking to the end. And if you want to see more painting DIY’s check here or here.

Happy painting!

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