Painted Furniture – Armoire Makeover

blue painted furniture makeover fusion mineral paintThe one room in my house that always seems to get neglected when it comes to decorating is my master bedroom. I guess that is because it’s a room that guests rarely see so it’s not a priority. We purchased a matching set of furniture for the room when we first moved in that now looks super dated. It’s an ugly orange wood tone, but the scale still fits the space well. Giving it a new look with paint is an easy way to make a dramatic change. Painted furniture can look as good as new. The armoire we have in this space was a huge eyesore, but it offers a lot of storage so I wanted to keep it. Here is what it looked like before.

painted furniture, armoire before

Not only is it an ugly wood tone, it was also missing a door pull. I went back and forth in my mind whether to paint this a distressed white or a dramatic dark blue. I really could not decide, so I ended up doing a combination of the two. I first sanded the entire piece, inside and out, and then I primed it with a white primer that I had in my paint stash. Then I began painting the inside of the armoire with my blue paint, which I mixed with white.

painted furniture how to armoire

I left the back wall unpainted because I wanted to line that with fabric. Remember the blue ticking stripe fabric I mentioned in this post? I went back to buy it so I could use it here. I measured the back wall, cut the fabric to size and attached it to the back wall using Mod Podge. To smooth the fabric as I was applying it, I used a large plastic ruler that worked perfectly.

lining shelves with fabric ticking stripe how to

Once that was done, I began painted the exterior. I used Fusion Mineral Paint in Midnight Blue. I love this shade, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted this armoire quite that dark, so I began mixing it with white. I experimented on the inside until I found the finish that I liked, which is a bit of a stippled effect.

blue painted furniture, armoire makeover the honeycomb home

 

To get that effect I poured white paint (I actually used the white primer) and my blue Fusion paint side by side in a large pan.

mixing paint colors for a stippled effect, painted furniture

 

Then I dipped the brush in each and swirled it around. In some areas, I used more of the white and in others, I used more of the blue.

Blue furniture makeovers, fusion mineral paint

We replaced the outdated drawer handles with these new champagne colored pulls from Amerock. After spending hours searching knobs and pulls on Wayfair, I finally decided on these bar pulls. For the lower drawers, I used the 18 7/8″ center pulls and for the doors, I used the 7 9/16″ length pulls. I love how they contrast with the blue. Then I styled it up with storage baskets inside and mini wreaths that I made on the doors.

blue painted furniture makeover, lining an armoire with fabric, ticking stripe, fusion mineral paint blue

 

I have to say painted furniture really can make a dramatic difference in a short amount of time, it’s like night and day.

armoire before and after makeover

 

I still have the dresser from this set to refinish (or possibly replace), you can see what I did with the nightstands here. I went with blue here to match the DIY knock-off wall decor I added above the bed last year. I am really loving the pop of color in here.

blue painted furniture with fusion mineral paint in blue before and after furniture makeovers, armoire

I usually seal my painted furniture with some kind of furniture wax. I haven’t sealed this piece yet, the fusion paint is pretty durable and this is not a high traffic area so I may skip that step with this piece.

 

*This post may contain affiliate links, you can read my full disclosure here. Thank you to Amerock and Wayfair for supplying the hardware and to Fusion Mineral Paint for the paint! All opinions are 100% my own.

12 Comments

  1. Love the transformation and the hardware too! However, that ‘ugly orange color’ you refer to is known as ‘oak.’ ha I smile when reading this from many bloggers……….hubby is a purist regarding wood and I cannot paint the oak cabinets in our kitchen, or anything else oak in this house because this is how we built it, and paid dear for all this oak, at the time (1995). Anything from garage sale/resale are mine to do as I please and have! Enjoy your work and paint on!

  2. Marilynn Turner says:

    Good job Roxanne, that came out beautiful.

  3. Jann Olson says:

    Love how it turned out!
    hugs,
    Jann

  4. Sherry Spears says:

    I have this same armoire in my guest bedroom! I just finished painting mine white using chalk paint. So much better than the oak! Love your color choice too.

    1. It really is such an improvement, thank you!

  5. Hello! Do you have the rest of the collection that goes with this? This is the exact same piece that i have from my mom. Ahe bought this back in the early 90s. Would love to see what else gas been done with the collection.

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