Dazzling Chest Of Drawers Makeover With Lilac Latex Paint

 Yes, you can paint furniture with latex paint! Sometimes, you need to use a primer before painting; sometimes, you do not. For this project, I used a primer. 

How awesome is this chest of drawers? I bought it from an online auction. I don’t know if you are familiar with online or in-person auctions, but you can get a little carried away if you aren’t careful. 

Once I spotted the chest online, I was back and forth on how much I wanted to pay for it. I mean, how often do you see a piece of vintage furniture like this one?

Luckily the auction company is only about 15 minutes from my home so I went over and looked at the chest and found that it was in great condition. 

The auction is open for a week and I kept bidding on the chest and the price kept going up. I finally decided to wait until just before the auction closed to see what the bids looked like.

My last bid was $70, and I bought the piece. However, the auction company adds a 10% fee plus tax, so the price went up to just over $80. I think the chest was worth it; what about you?

Now I’m going to take you through the chest of drawers makeover and today is Furniture Fixer Upper Day so you have extra furniture inspiration.

When I looked at the paint on the chest, I could tell it was probably lead-based because it just had a certain look to it. It’s hard to explain, but if you have been in the furniture or house painting business for a while, you can recognize lead-based paint. 

Since lead-based paint can cause serious health problems when breathed in or ingested (children chewing on furniture or banisters, for example), the best thing for me to do was not sand the paint and instead cover it with a good coat of primer and a couple of coats of paint. That should keep the lead-based paint contained.

My favorite primer is Glidden Gripper (now marketed as PPG Seal Grip Gripper). I like to have the primer tinted light or medium gray because white primer takes several coats of paint to cover, depending on your topcoat color. 

I brushed on one coat of gray tinted primer, and I’m sorry, but I either deleted a few of my process photos or I just can’t find them! I had photos showing the inside of the drawers, the gray primer, and other steps in the makeover. My age is telling. 

When I posted a photo of the chest of drawers in an earlier post, several of you commented that it should be painted in a neutral color, and I agreed. But the more I looked at the chest, the more I felt it needed a feminine look but not too girly, more of an adult feminine look. I just wasn’t feeling off-white, pale gray, tan, or similar colors would be right for the chest.

So I went to Home Depot and looked through the paint chips and Lovers Knot from Behr caught my eye right away. I picked up the chip and kept looking, but this one was it.

The color is what I would call lilac. It isn’t pink like Pepto Bismol and it isn’t purple like Barney!

In this photo you can see the gray primer and then Lovers Knot being brushed over the primer. 

I chose to have the color mixed in Behr Scuff Defense which I’ve used before. This paint really adheres. You don’t have to worry about it chipping off.

I applied two coats of paint and then went back with a small paintbrush and covered a few missed spots on those detailed trim pieces.

I almost dry-brushed white paint on the edges and details but decided that would be overkill. The chest just speaks for itself. 

I didn’t have any furniture knobs in my stash that worked with the paint color so I headed to Hobby Lobby. I found the marble look ceramic knobs that looked like they were made to go with the chest. 

The only problem was that the store did not have enough knobs and they were not on sale. This chest has 13 furniture knobs!! 

If you have shopped at Hobby Lobby, you know the knobs are on sale for 50% off every other week. Well, I didn’t really want to wait a week, plus I needed more knobs than my local store had in stock. I looked online, but that was a problem, too.

Luckily, there is a Hobby Lobby in Hopkinsville, KY, where my favorite junk shop is located. So I took a trip to the junk shop and stopped in at Hobby Lobby. 

Between the two stores, I was able to find 14 knobs, but the marbling was different on them. You expect marbling to be different, but some of the knobs were very light, and some were dark.

If you look closely at the photo of the entire chest, you see that the knobs on the top part of the chest are lighter than the ones lower on the chest. That was the only option I could come up with, and it all finally came together. 

The other thing is that the total cost for 13 knobs was a little over $70 after tax! So the cost of this furniture makeover including the paint ( I used less than half a can) is around $170. It will be hard for me to recoup my cost when I take the chest to my booth and tag it for sale.

And that is my chest of drawers makeover story. Leave a note if you have time before heading out on the furniture tour. Take the Furniture Fixer Upper Tour by clicking the text links below the “before” makeovers photo collage….

As always, thanks for being here, Kathy

Kathy Owen

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Author: Kathy Owen
Kathy Owen is the founder of the home decor blog Petticoat Junktion where she shares tutorials on painting furniture and upcycling thrifty finds into unique home décor. Her DIY projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines.