Ocean Inspired Furniture Upcycle

In this instructables I shall show you how I upcycled a small bow-fronted chest of drawers using a large acrylic painting of the ocean.

A large acrylic painting on canvas that I bought from eBay

Three tins of satinwood quick dry paint in shades of teal

Grey wood primer

Gold size and gold leaf

Adhesive carpet spray

Acrylic Spray varnish

A set of cast iron draw handles

Sandpaper

Assortment of paint brushes

To prepare the cupboard, I gave it a good sand, then I washed it clean and let it dry. I gave it a coat of grey wood primer. I used grey primer because I am going to paint it green and it is easier to paint green over grey.

I painted the body of the cupboard in shades of teal and turquoise satinwood quick-dry paint, starting at the bottom with the darkest colour and blending to the top in lighter tones. I didn’t overblend as I wanted it to have an arty look about it.

I painted the edges of the drawers in satinwood paint and when it was dry, I painted the beading around the front of the drawers with gold size and applied gold leaf.

I bought a cheap painting of the ocean on eBay. It was quite large and was painted onto canvas. I cut the canvas into panels to fit inside the beading on the front of the drawers and glued it down with spray carpet glue. Once it was set in place and completely dry, I gave it a couple of coats of acrylic varnish to protect it.

I bought a set of iron sea life cabinet handles. I repainted them in the same colours as the chest of drawers and added gold leaf to them. I didn’t bother to use gold size I simply dabbed the gold leaf onto the drying paint. Once they were completely dry, I brushed off the excess gold leaf and attached the handles to the drawer fronts.

I have had a lot of compliments about this cabinet. It is nice that the painting on the front is quite three dimensional as it has been painted by hand. All in all I am very pleased with the results.