How To Apply Re-Design By Prima Rub On Floral Transfers To Furniture

Rub on floral transfers are a great way to spice up painted furniture. The cedar chest I painted last month needed a little spice, and the re-design by prima floral polish transfer is just what it needed. I made a short 30-second video of the transfer process for you!

You might remember the cedar chest from the Furniture Fixer Upper tour in April. I painted the cedar chest blue and didn’t distress the paint or use any special technique on the chest. Now it’s Furniture Fixer Upper Day again, and I’m fixin’ up the cedar chest. 

The Floral Polish transfer design is right up my alley. I love the bold colors. The pretty flowers remind me of folk art designs.

There are three sheets of transfers in the re-design by prima package.

I cut some of the designs apart, getting ready to apply them to the chest. The transfer tool included in the package is used to rub the transfers onto your surface of choice.

To apply the designs, first remove the transfers from the white paper backing. The transfers are just sitting on the paper, not adhered to it. 

Then lay the design face up on the project surface, use the transfer tool, and rub very firmly over the transfer. 

Next, pull the clear sheet away from the transfer. The design will transfer to the surface or, in this case, the cedar chest. Sometimes areas of the transfer will still adhere to the clear sheeting. Lay the transfer back down and firmly rub over the area again.

The hardest part of the process for me was deciding on the design. There were a lot of pieces, and I cut some of the larger designs apart to get the look I was going for. 

I decided not to apply the design across the whole width of the cedar chest. Might be overkill.

Since the floral design was kind of folk art looking and old school, the next thing I did was distress the chest to “age” it using a battery-powered sander.

To distress the transfers, I used a sanding block and just gently rubbed over the design.

The last step in the process was to apply a coat of dark wax to the whole cedar chest. The wax darkens the raw wood caused by the distressing or sanding. The wax also darkens the blue paint where there is a whitish hazy look caused by sanding the paint.

The left part of the photo above shows where the wax has been applied over the raw wood. The right side of the photo shows the light raw wood not yet coated with wax.

And that’s it. The cedar chest definitely looks different after the addition of the transfers, the distressed paint, and the dark wax application.

The flowers are so colorful even after being lightly distressed.

Do you guys think I should have carried the design completely across the bottom of the chest? Have you ever used rub on transfers?

Leave a note if you have time, and 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. Kathy’s newest website is HappyHomeDIY.com