Makeover a pine chest of drawers
Pine furniture is reasonably affordable but doesn't add much in the way of style. We show you how to makeover plain pine furniture into more attractive pieces.
Pop into your local Builders and you will find a selection of materials that you can use to transform plain pine furniture into more attractive pieces that can be stained or painted to match your decor. This pine chest of drawers was given a new, more modern finish using PAR pine, or you can use 3mm masonite / hardboard, or even 3mm / 6mm / 9mm MDF (see timber and board suppliers).
Pine furniture is an affordable way to add select pieces to a home, and there are pine furniture suppliers that offer very good quality pieces. But not everyone likes the look of pine and it tends to go yellow when sealed or varnished, so adding trim and painting pine is an easy way to turn average pine furniture into modern furniture.
For this project 10 x 44m PAR pine strips were cut and glued onto the drawer fronts with wood glue. If you want the drawers to be flush with the frame at the front you may need to widen the sides by adding a strip at the back to accommodate the extra thickness of the strips on the drawer fronts.
Use pine, MDF and moulding to make up a new top. The new top is larger and will hang over the sides and front by about 2 cm, but allow for the width of any moulding you add. This top is two pieces of MDF - the bottom piece smaller than the front - and a strip of moulding is glued and pinned onto the bottom section for detail.
The complete top assembly is then glued onto the chest of drawers. It is also recommended that you remove the drawers and drive in screws underneath the frame to ensure the new top is firmly secured in place.
If you want to modify pine furniture to add more detail you can look at various other ways to add moulding, such as cutting away the base and adding new panels.
Once you have added all the detail to your pine furniture it's time to sand and prime for painting. Unless you are painting with oil-based paint, wood needs to be primed. Primer acts as a blocking coat if there are any knots in the wood but more importantly, it prevents water-based paints from being absorbed into the wood and possibly causing it to swell.
Prominent Paints have a selection of primers for all surfaces - and for wood. Apply according to the manufacturer's recommended guidelines.
Finish off with 2 to 3 coats of your choice of paint, whether matt, sheen or gloss - you will find a wide selection of quality paints at your local Prominent Paints outlet, which can be tinted in your desired colour. Apply this with a combination of foam roller / paintbrush or Bosch PFS spray system.
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