Painting pine furniture

[withouttea]

We’ve got a pair of really ugly knotty pine chests of drawers. These date from an Ikea haul in 1998 before my first marriage (that makes me feel old) - so they aren’t anything fantastic. But somehow I love what they do - they are solid and hold so much stuff. We are renting at the moment and probably won’t buy again for a couple years yet, so I need to make these do for now - we aren’t in the ‘forever’ house. But they’re so ugly! What was my younger self THINKING?!

Are they paintable, do you think? I like light colours and my ideal, money-no-object house style would be Diane Keaton’s beach house in Something’s Got to Give.

I’m quite handy at DIY so willing to have a go. What do you think? What would look good?

I was impressed with your interior decorating term.

It looks really good! Are you keeping the handles or putting new ones on?

Looks good. I think it will be fine. Bedside tables don't get a huge amount of wear anyway, not like kitchen cabinets or something which are always being knocked.

Maybe put a large mat on the top or something to stop scratching. Or a small tray.

Enid - the handles are quite pretty - stripey grain wood. There's also the bun feet to consider!

I think I might retain the feet and the handles UNLESS I see nice alternatives this week. It would keep the costs down. And a bit of pine is ok, just not a room full of it!

Do you need to use a stain killing type primer such as Zinnser to stop knots coming through? (We've had these show through on some skirting boards so obvs did something wrong).

I think i have the identical ikea bedside table which I Annie Sloaned!
Will post a pic shortly...

Great clouds - I didn't bother. They were varnished so I hope that will hold it at bay.

Glass knobs 4 for £6 from Dunelm

Unless it's visible, I wouldn't paint inside of cupboard or sides of drawers. I did a border of about 3cm around the inside edges. Just put a strip of masking tape to keep a sharp edge and save a load of bother and paint

I've done loads of pine furniture. I've never rubbed down, just painted straight on top with eggshell paint from B and Q or Wilko. I've changed the knobs to china ones and had glass tops cut to size to protect the tops. I'm really pleased with them.

www.dunelm.com/product/jazz-age-set-of-4-drawer-knobs-1000051174

Noticed chalk paint in Aldi a week or so ago. cant recall how much but will clearly be cheaper than the popular makes

I did a chest of drawers in eggshell but didn't like it and painted over it with Rustoleum chalk paint. I'm delighted with the result of that. Pics below,

Getting glass tops cut is a genius idea!

Love the pics you are posting - it's so good to see what's possible.

You can sometimes get lovely ceramic drawer handles in tkmaxx and homesense. I got 6 for about £3, it’s definitely worth checking there if you want something a bit unusual.

Breakfast those knobs are pretty! I have glass & chrome side lamps and they'd match nicely. I might just leave the bun feet off all together.

The Bun feet are pretty easy to paint.
The knobs are a bit big for my bedside table but at that price it was a no brainer. I've got a lamp with glass bead trim which looks nice with the knobs

Ta da!!
I put the old knobs on for now - not time to get to Dunelm today. Actually I think the feet and knobs look reasonable, once the rest of it is toned down. I wallpapered the insides, too.

My back is sore but I'm rather proud - and will be doing more!

The feet and knobs actually look really good! It's works well with the grey/blue. Love the wallpaper in the back. Did you line the drawer too or are you leaving it?

Well done 👍🏻

The Annie Sloan wax is brilliant and makes for a hardwearing finish.

The Rustoleum wax is a bag of old shite.

Some great transformations here.
Regarding the tops of these units, I have a local window fitting company that will cut glass to whatever size needed, saves the tops from getting marked/stained.

That looks really good, OP.

We have glass top coverings on our bedside tables. When we were replacing our old ones I was surprised at how finely scratched they were. They get more use than you think. The glass tops are really easy to clean and don't distract from the tables themselves.

Enid, yes, I lined the drawers too. I don't know that the wall paper will be all that hard wearing, but I suppose I can always collect a few more 'samples' from Wilco if it needs replacing. I stuck it down with double sided tape.

Virology, I have already phoned the local glass company for a quote for glass tops. What a great idea. I told the glass shop fella my DH can't be trained to use a coaster.

I have tried.

Easily replaced or changed when you fancy. Good idea.