Upcycling bedroom furniture

Hi,
I love upcycling furniture. The best paint tonuse is Annie Sloan Chaulk paint. You don't need to prime it, but if the wood it's knotty (which I an imagine it is) you'll need to use a shallac based primer first as the knots will appear to bleed and show a yellow tinge through the paint. Then once it's dry (it dries really quickly) you just seal it with Annie Sloan wax. Look up YouTube videos on it, it's bloody great!

I always give my furniture a bit of a sand first. I just run over it with my little palm sander to give the paint a key so it stocks better and is more durable.

Then I use Wickes primer, and finish with whatever is to hand. You could use chalk paint. Most often I use satinwood paint which doesn't need any sealer afterwards. I've also used emulsion left over from painting walls and sealed with Wilko Matt varnish.

Satinwood is the more "traditional" product for painting wood, often used on skirting boards etc instead of gloss. It gives a slightly shiny (but not glossy) finish. Chalk paint has become popular because you don't need to do a lot of preparation before using it. It has a matt finish, and you give it a top layer of wax (which darkens the colour a little) to make it more resilient.

I recently painted a chest of 5 drawers with Annie Sloan paint and used less than a quarter of the tin, so depending on the size of the wardrobe you might only need 1 tin. I stirred the paint well, and then dipped the brush directly in the tin rather than using a tray. You can just use a normal paint brush. Next time I would decant it into a smaller container to use it.

You can buy light or dark wax, and apply it with a microfibre or jey cloth and lots of elbow grease! I didn't bother with the wax brush they sell, as it cost about £25.

I also used satinwood paint for another project, and it washes off with warm water and washing up liquid, so no need to throw away. You can wrap brushes etc. in cling film to stop them drying overnight.

If the furniture has already got a finish (paint or varnish) I don't think you would need to prime it, but you would probably need to sand it a bit so the (satinwood) paint would adhere. If it's bare wood, then do use primer.

There is another more cost effective way to up cycle, you can use emulsion paint.

Lightly sand your furniture with a fine sandpaper, or wet & dry Water down your paint so it has the consistency of cream,

Apply your first coat, let it dry, give it a very light sand and repeat until you get the depth of colour you like then finally 2 coats of wax.

Much cheaper than the chalk based or oil based finishes, I've done it on a dresser in my dining room and it stands up well to heat and stuff being dragged over it.