Moody Floral Dresser

Hello Lovelies!

Ready for another furniture redo!? Today I’m sharing how we took a dresser freebie and turned it into a moody floral beauty using black paint and a floral paper napkin decoupage technique.

A few months back my husband found two furniture freebies listed on Craigslist. If you use Craigslist you know the free listings move like hotcakes so my husband immediately replied and hoped for the best. And you know what?! Somehow we ended up first in line for both pieces of furniture!

The first piece was an old serpentine dresser. Such a pretty piece! The legs, the curves, the original hardware (minus 1), and the keyholes. They don’t make them like this anymore.

This was one of those pieces that I knew immediately what I wanted to do to fix her up.

Because of the dark reddish brown stain, chips of missing veneer, and worn topcoat, I knew this piece would be best suited to a dark paint color.

Pro Tip: Dark stained wood furniture, especially ones with red pigments tend to be prone to bleed-through. Pair that with a worn or chipped topcoat and it’s a recipe for disaster when painting over with a light color. There are products meant to help block bleed-through but in my experience their reliability is iffy at best. To save the headache and potentially hours of extra work, choosing a dark color paint or having a plan to distress any areas of bleed-through is a wise idea.

The feet on this dresser give off a very gothic architecture vibe therefore I felt a true, deep black, oil-rubbed finish would be perfect. I paired the dark paint with dark moody floral paper napkins I found online at H&M.

H&M no longer carries these exact napkins so I searched online to find some pretty alternatives available on Amazon.

You can shop these alternatives using our Amazon Affiliate links below:

As always, using affiliate links will cost you (the consumer) no extra but we will receive a small commission for referring you. We appreciate your use of our affiliate links so much!

Peony Blossom Paper Hostess Napkins (black background)

Nostalgic Bouquet Napkins (black background)

Blossom & Brogues Floral Paper Napkins (cream background)

Daisy Garden Floral Print Paper Napkins (dark floral)

The shell of the dresser and the drawer fronts were painted with 2 coats of FolkArt Home Decor Paint in Rich Black. The top two drawers were put to the side after they were painted and the painted finish on the rest of the dresser and drawer fronts was lightly sanded with a fine grit sanding sponge before applying the topcoat. Sanding removes any texture in the paint giving the furniture a smooth finish. My favorite topcoat for dark finishes is Minwax Satin Wipe-On Polyurethane. It’s easy to apply and it has a beautiful hand-rubbed look.

On the top two drawers the floral napkins were decoupaged directly over the black paint using Minwax Polycrylic. I have a full tutorial for this process over on this Polycrylic Napkin Decoupage Desk post.

Napkin decoupage often produces the most wonderful texture! I love how it really looks like an oil painting was fused to the drawer fronts of this dresser.

The last step to get this piece ready to sell was to rearrange and clean up the hardware. One of the original handles and a few of the handle backplates were missing so we decided to replace the top two pulls with new accenting hardware. I painted and sealed these traditional bow pulls with the same black paint and wipe-on poly. The original pulls were soaked in vinegar and scrubbed with steel wool and they look AMAZING!! So shiny and beautiful while still retaining a pretty patina.

I’m thrilled with how this piece turned out!

What do you think? Are you a fan of statement furniture pieces?

Also, I’d love to know, have you tried napkin decoupage? It really is such a fun technique and can add so much personality and whimsy to painted furniture. If you haven’t tried it I recommend you give it a go.

 

Until next time,

 

Love how this piece is styled? Here’s a little roundup of links if you’re interested in recreating this look in your own home.

Click an image to shop.