My youngest daughter recently complained that she doesn’t have enough storage space in her room. It just so happened that I had a chest of drawers looking for a new home! I used it to keep my craft supplies, but it took up too much space in the laundry room, and I want to move the craft supplies to the new office I plan on building in a few months.

This chest of drawers has been around the block a few times and deserved a good makeover. Nothing a few coats of paint and some new hardware couldn’t fix! But first, I have to tell you how it all began…

(This post is sponsored by Dixie Belle Paint Company.)

The Backstory of the Chest of Drawers

This chest, with two twin beds and a nightstand, was the first thing I bought with money I made from a decorating job. Fun times! That was sixteen years ago, and I got them for the girls’ bedroom that they shared for a short while.

All the furniture pieces were unfinished pine, and I painted them off-white before giving them an aged look with dark brown in the corners and around the edges. (It was shortly after I finished a course on paint techniques, and nothing was left untouched!)

That was until I discovered the wonder of chalk paint around 2015! The chest of drawers was painted a Caribbean blue, and the hardware got replaced with an eclectic mix of five different pairs of ceramic pulls. It looked adorable, I must say!

Chest of drawers before its makeover

This poor chest of drawers is nothing special. If you look closely, the drawers look a bit wonky and not quite all the same size. Nevertheless, it traveled along to Canada and found a new home in the remodeled laundry room, storing all my craft supplies.

I gave it a quick coat of white paint, forgetting that I sealed the blue chalk paint with wax. You know what happened then, right? Yup! It wasn’t long before the white paint started to peel and chip off. I never made time to fix it until now.

The Forth Makeover for the Chest of Drawers

Removing layers of paint stripper

It goes without saying that I had to completely remove the flaking white paint and at least give the blue a good scuff.

I usually start with a paint stripper because it saves a bit of sanding time and also gets rid of any wax or oil residue.

Sanding Day

The paint stripper removed all of the white and some of the blue, revealing the first layer of off-white paint. The blue adhered very well to the first layer of white, so no need to remove every last bit of paint.

Sanding away layers of paint on a chest of drawers

The weather has been so great this month! So much so that we had windows open most of the day at the beginning of last week. That is unheard of for January in Alberta! But then, I had to go and tempt fate…

I had only one day left to do the sanding if I wanted to make my project deadline. Of course, that would be the day we would see the first snowstorm in ages, and it was freezing cold again! Anyhow, I managed to sand everything before freezing my behind off, but it sure wasn’t pleasant!

Clean sanded chest of drawers, ready for a makeover.

I managed to remove most of the paint and could start with an (almost) clean slate.

Painting Pretty Pinks

Picking a paint color was my daughter’s job since she would be living with it. She made an excellent choice of two shades of pink. Conch (light pink) for the drawers and the top and Desert Rose (a darker pink) for the “body.”

Both colors are from the Silk Mineral Paint range, which has a built-in primer and top coat, so no additional priming was needed.

I finished the first coat on all the pieces with a paintbrush, followed by a light sanding, leaving it silky smooth.

Applying a second coat of paint with a foam roller

I returned to old habits and used a foam roller for the second coat. It’s a personal preference, but I love the smooth finish I can only get with a roller.

I decided that an extra layer of protection couldn’t hurt and gave everything two coats of Clear Coat sealer as well.

Adding New Hardware

I asked my daughter to shop online for hardware that would work well with the pink and the rest of her room. What she found was perfect! The most darling, white ceramic roses you have ever seen! (I will link them below).

The drawer fronts are two layers of wood, and the screws for the hardware would only fit through one layer. One option would be to buy longer screws, but I decided instead to sink the screws into the back layer of wood.

All you need is a drill bit the size of the screw head and a bit of painter’s tape to guide how deep to drill.

The Chest of Drawers’ New Look

DIY Chest of drawers makeover, Painted two shades of pink

And so the little wonky chest of drawers lives to see to another day – all made over and pretty in pink!

Pink chest of drawers after a makeover

I would love to hear what you think!

As promised, I linked the hardware and paint colors I used below.

Until next time, happy painting!

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White ceramic cabinet or drawer pulls (also available in pink)

Conch Silk Mineral Paint

Desert Rose Mineral Paint

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4 Comments

  1. Oh, I love this. The two tone looks great and those handles are very special. I recently painted some drawers lavender and pink – they look quite similar.

    1. Thanks, Carol! I think she chose well, the colors compliment her wallpaper well.

  2. Beautiful job. I like how it works with the little pops of coral/pink in the wallpaper.

    1. Thanks, Suzie! I’m glad your eye caught that! She said she picked the darker pink because of that little accent.