For most, ‘furniture renovation’, means the restoration of antiques or the re-purposing of other solid wood furniture. Another trend is to paint then distress wooden furniture to create the “Shabby Chic” look. But what about all of those modern flat pack pieces of furniture that are made of veneered particle board and Melamine Board?
These cheaper and often uninteresting pieces of furniture get the raw end of the deal with their functional yet bland appearance, often serving their time in bedrooms and lounges until they fall out of favour or fall apart. As with any other piece of furniture however, these modern pieces can be easily transformed to become a feature of any room.
Let the transformation begin
For this project we’ve taken a pretty standard 4 draw chest with a veneered top and sides and white Melamine drawers. To keep it simple, we’ve decided to go for a basic diagonal striped design that would fit in with any children’s bedroom, but the design possibilities are endless.
What did we use
For prepping and finishing the furniture we used…
- Masking tape – to mask off the areas that were not being painted
- Sugar Soap – to clean the surface, ready for painting
- Microfibre cloth – to wipe any sanding dust from the surface
- Synthetic bristle brush – The best type of brush for water-based products
- Varnish – Liberon Home ColourCare Decorative Furniture Varnish. Colours used, Samba Rose, Angora Grey and Aqua Blue
Phase 1 – Preparation
Firstly, the Melamine drawer fronts and veneered sides to be varnished were cleaned with Sugar Soap. This is to remove any dirt, grease or other impurities that may affect the adhesion of the varnish. Some may prefer to give the areas to be painted or varnished a light sanding with a fine grit sandpaper to aid adhesion.
We then masked off the striped area. We wanted to keep the middle stripe white, so left the original Melamine finish exposed, which is smoother and has a slightly higher sheen than the contrasting pink and grey areas either side.
Phase 2 – Varnishing or painting
Using synthetic bristle brushes which are better for water-based products, the drawer fronts and unit sides were varnished. For this we applied 3 coats allowing 4 hours drying time between coats.
With the varnish being water-based, the brushes were thoroughly cleaned immediately after use with clean, warm water. This leaves them ready for the next project.
The finished article
For effect, we dressed the top of the chest with an vintage book, camera, candle and succulent plant.
Excluding the drying time, this piece of furniture was completed in just a couple of hours using Liberon products. If you would like to know more about this project or have any questions about a project of your own, contact our team of resident experts who are on hand to help.
