
Painting furniture is a great approach to make it more personal. If you are thinking about up-cycling your furniture, this article from our latest DIY Weekend Projects with Don of all Trades Professional Home Maintenance Services will help explain how.
With regards to giving your home a face lift, the difference is all in the details. Painting tired furniture is one of the quickest and most cost effective approaches to revive a room’s stylistic theme.

This bedroom needed some TLC and we wanted to give it a new fresh cleaner look. We had to first start by decluttering, organizing cleaning, prepping the walls and then painting the room.
Outdated window treatments were replaced along with the original large pine wood bed with with a newer sleeker basic iron headboard. New mattress and box spring were purchased as well. The only original bedroom furniture left in this room was the was the dresser.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with this dresser except cosmetically, it didn’t fit in with the planned updated decor and style we wanted to achieve in this room.
We decided to up-cycle this dresser and give it a face-lift with some chalk paint. And let me tell you….ARE WE EVER GLAD WE DID!
Below are some before and after photos of this dresser up cycling project including steps, tips and our experiences completing it. We hope that this article inspires you to create something new and unique as a DIY project for your home.
Step 1-Surface Preparation-Before You Paint
- Remove any removable elements like hardware, shelves, drawers.
- Run your hand across the piece to find any rough patches that might need sanding (but you do NOT need to sand the entire piece when using Chalk Paint–even if it’s varnished!).
- Fill any holes with wood glue.
- Even if your furniture piece appears to be clean, it will still be covered in oils from hands. So, make sure to give it a once over with some warm soapy water. we just used a mild dish-soap, followed up with a final pass of clear water, so we didn’t leave behind any soapy residue. Then, just allow ample dry time before applying your first coat of paint.
- Edge off any sections that won’t be painted using painter’s tape (like the inside of drawers).

Photos courtesy http://www.donofalltrades.ca
Step 2-Choosing Your Brand of Decorative Chalk Paint



For this particular project, we purchased the Rust-Oleum Brand-Chalked Ultra Matt in Linen White. Ultra Matte Paint creates a matte finish that dries to a velvety smooth finish. It transforms and rejuvenates furniture and home décor, creating a unique one of a kind look.
- Easy to use – No prepping or priming required
- Use on wood, metal, ceramic, canvas and more
- Water based for easy clean up
Step 3- Our Brush of Choice-The Nour Craft 1 ½ inch Premium Oval Brush
Product Overview
- Dyed, tipped and flagged polyester filaments
- High density of filaments (increased paint pick-up & release)
- Fine tips for smooth finish
- Firm stiffness (excellent for wax application)
- Oval Handle
- Oval Brush
Good To Know Tip-How To Apply a Chalk Finish Paint
Practice painting a scrap board before tackling a project. When layering different paint colors for a distressed finish, apply a heavier base coat than top coat. Work quickly — chalk-finish paint dries fast and immediately remove any particles in the wet paint.
Good To Know Tip-When Chalk Paint Becomes Too Thick…
Step 5-Adding a Protective Top Coat
Since this piece was still being used as a dresser, we chose the Rust-oleum Brand Chalked Protective Top Coat to add an extra protection against any possible spills or accidents.
Rust-Oleum Chalked Protective Topcoat
Product Overview:
- Adds a protective, sealed clear topcoat to any chalked surface
- Ultra-matte, smooth finish enhances color and durability
- Goes on in 1 to 2 coats with no need to reapply
We found that this product worked like it said it would. This is a good sealer for the chalked paint. We also wanted to mention that this product does darken the colors a bit.

Three More Reasons Why You Should Consider Up Cycling
Number 1-Saves You Money
Number 2-Customize
Why purchase new when you can make something totally customized for your home? No one else will have the same and you can give your creative imagination and energy a chance to run wild.
Number 3-Good for the Environment

About Don D’Orazio
Founder of Don of all Trades Professional Home Maintenance Services.
Donato has over 20 plus years of experience. His company has completed various projects for many clients. Donato’s philosophy is to always treat “YOUR HOME AS IF IT WERE HIS OWN”. His goal is to provide quality service at affordable prices without compromising the finished product.
Donato always ensures all his projects are completed with the highest standard of quality and craftsman ship. He also takes pride in knowing that he can take your ideas and turn them into reality….. Giving you the home you’ve always dreamed of having.
Donato D’Orazio, owner and founder of Don of All Trades Professional Home Maintenance Services, classifies his vision for home renovation projects with three important goals.
1. To come in on budget
2. To complete the project on-time.
3. To make the customer’s experience as stress-free as possible
It is these three goals that form the foundation for the Don of All Trades Professional Home Maintenance Services business model, which is unique from the way that other home improvement companies operate. Our clients have told us the benefits they’ve seen from our business model.
Don’s Motto
“Start living better and get peace of mind and the freedom in life to get back to the important things that matters most to you.”
Don Continues to Find Compassion Within Himself to Stay Attached to Values That are Linked to the Common Good
In 2013 Don and and his team created the Helping Hands Building Trees of Hope Program benefiting worthwhile causes and creating partnerships within our communities in Durham Region. The Tree of Hope is a symbol of commitment, inspiration and community. Every year Don’s goal is to add new Helping Hands to the Tree of Hope and have it completed by December 31st from generous donations collected from clients, friends, family and local businesses in the community from our Donation Wish-List. Don believes it’s important to give back and not only volunteers his time, he also funds and hosts a number events throughout the year to help Do Good and Give Back.
Here’s an important life lesson: no matter how tough you think your life is there’s always someone who has to face challenges that are tougher than yours.
Our Memories of Giving Back in 2017