Hand painted furniture -Whimsical ideas

Hi friends, I hope you are having an awesome day! I’ve been working on a few projects that I can’t wait to show you. But I still have a few finishing touches to do on them. Meantime, I want to share with you my hand painted furniture project I have completed a while back. Many of the inspirations for my hand painted furniture came from the whimsical look of Mackenzie-Childs design styles.

Where to find furniture to paint…

I love to scour garage sales, thrift stores or anywhere I could find furniture that has seen better days and give it new life.

Hand painting furniture became such a rewarding pastime.

I was hooked on painting furniture after my first piece.

Before I knew it I was selling my hand painted furniture everywhere. On Etsy and Facebook, painting pieces for family and friends.

There are so many different paints and techniques you can use on furniture to create the look you want for the style of your home.

I would use the piece of furniture as the canvas for scenery painting or create a glazing effect, whitewash, paint a zebra print, and so on.

It is so easy for a piece of furniture to go from drab to fab with some paint and an imagination.

Hand painted furniture inspirations from MacKenzie-Childs

As I mentioned, one of my favorite inspirations of hand painted furniture comes from Mackenzie-Childs designs. I love her whimsical and colorful style with a little quirkiness.

Except, I do not love the hefty price tag , it is way out of my reach. Painting my own knock off of Mackenzie-Childs style piece was the only way to go.

So for all of you MacKenzie-Childs furniture lovers, but does have the deep pockets to purchase one, this one is for you!

How to hand paint furniture

I purchased a cabinet at a local garage sale for $25. This cabinet had beautiful details that was perfect to bring out with some paint.

There used to be more garage sales in my neck of the woods years ago, but lately they have dwindled down to a very few over the years. If your neighborhood is lacking in garage sales, there are so many other ways you can get your hands on furniture to revive.

Thrift stores and Facebook marketplace, Craigslist are great places find vintage and other furniture.

This was my garage sale find that had seen better days. It had beautiful details around the doors that were just waiting to be noticed.

Sorry, the pictures are not best quality and I also did not take many step by step pictures. But, I’ll try to explain the process, it so easy. You’ll get the idea.

First, I sanded the cabinet really well to take off the build up and the sheen. This way the paint can easily adhere to the wood. Then sanded off all the existing stain from the top so that the new stain will have an even tone.

Started with painting the base of the cabinet with white primer. Gave it two coats of light turquoise paint.

Creating courtly checkers

Next is my favorite part of the project, creating the design to accentuate the cabinet. I did simple courtly checkered design on the front door panels.

Starting from the middle of the panel door I used 1″ wide painter’s tape and drew vertical lines down. Then using the tape drew horizonal lines starting from the middle of the door panel. I painted every other box with black paint to create the courtly checkered pattern.

After I painted the checker pattern, I painted the trim molding with gold paint.

Then mixed raw umber paint and clear glaze to create a tinted glaze.

Let the paint dry well. Brush and wipe off the raw umber glaze over the paint to give some depth to turquoise paint. Making sure to get into the grooves of the all the wood detail.

Also, ran a row of checkers on the sides of the cabinet to add some interest.

If this whimsical look doesn’t fit the style of your home, you can easily create any look with different paint techniques.

Hand painted furniture is so versatile that It can be made to suit traditional spaces, farmhouse style, contemporary, modern and more.

You can see my side tables I had painted for my bedroom which had more of a simple look to create a contemporary flair.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Check out some of these beautiful hand painted furniture…

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