I had an old set of drawers in the garage that were practical but very marked and ugly. I thought I would try to make them more attractive and individual. After sanding the body, the drawer fronts and all the sides, I sanded the top back to the wood as I wanted to give that a varnished honey colour. I then set about varnishing the top. The body of the drawers were painted with three coats of matt white paint. Once that was completed, I painted the four round wooden feet with matt black paint and then I hammered in some padded sliders to the feet bases. That finished the drawer body. I then drew a picture using thick lines that would be large enough to cover the three stacked drawers. I traced this picture onto the three drawer fronts in pencil. I painted along the lines to outline the image in the same stain/varnish I used for the top. Once that was complete, I painted in between those thick lines with the matt white paint and filled in the gaps with white. I painted the inside of the drawers with more white paint and lined the inside bases with shiny white contact paper. The old drawer handles were replaced with three simple handles in matt black to match the feet. The patterned drawers were then put in place to complete the project.
Steps
Step 1
The first job was to get the old drawers up on my horses so I could start seeing what I was up against. The old drawer handles were removed.
Step 2
Sanding the three drawers and the body of the unit took a long time and covered the whole garage and car with sawdust.
Step 3
Staining and varnishing the top surface was the fun part. I then began tracing the outline of my image that would cover the three drawer fronts. I then painted a thick outline on the pencil line of the image. This was on all three drawers.
Step 4
When the three drawers had their images added I then painted around the lines with white paint. This needed two coats so it took a long time to finish
Step 5
Once the three drawers were painted then the new handles could be screwed in.
Step 6
All drawers were finished with painting, handles and were then added to the painted body of the unit.
