*AD: This post is sponsored by V33.
Last year we moved our master bedroom into the attic, so we could finally renovate our old room. The attic room, however, needs A LOT of work. We’re talking new windows, plastering, and new electrics (there are currently no sockets up here!) – the lot! Due to the low height ceiling, our existing wardrobe also won’t fit up here, so we needed a whole new setup for storage as well.
So this year, we decided to turn a corner of the attic room into a kind of walk-in wardrobe area. We’ve installed a clothes rail into the alcove next to the chimney and then I trawled through eBay to find some additional storage on a budget. At £36 I won this Victorian-style chest of drawers, which at first glance has lovely bones, but on closer look, you’ll see it needs a fair bit of work.
The wood stain has certainly seen better days, there are various areas where wooden corners are chipped and one of the knobs even appears to have been eaten by woodworm. Generally, the drawers look tired and in need of a serious makeover. So in this blog post, I’m going to share a quick and easy budget makeover.
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How to Makeover Old Drawers with V33 Multi-Surface Paint
Earlier this year, V33 got in touch and asked if I had any projects on the go that they could help with. Having previously used their paints on our DIY stair renovation, as well as our kitchen cupboard makeover, I knew their paints were great for ease of application and hard-wearing too. Perfect for a chest of drawer makeover!
This time, I’ll be using their Multi-Surface Renovation paint* which is designed to be suitable for over 20 different surfaces! From glass to wood, tiles, laminate, metal, and more – this is a ‘one paint fits all’ kind of product, which is perfect if you need to cover more than one type of material. It also comes in a range of new on-trend colours which I was very keen to try.
So, here’s a little tutorial on the makeover and a review of the V33 Multi-Surface Renovation Paint.
Sanding the Drawers
One of the best things about V33 Multi-Surface Renovation paint is that it requires fairly little prep work. Basically, no extensive sanding and no undercoat is required, hurrah! You don’t need to strip off any old stain or paint, a light sand is really all that’s needed. This will smooth out any imperfections and give a ‘key’ for the new paint to adhere to. I used 240-grit sandpaper* for this and sanded both the drawers and drawer frame by hand.
Removing the Drawer Knobs for Repair
The knobs on these drawers sadly aren’t the original knobs and whoever replaced them in the past, decided to glue them on. So, to limit damage to the drawers I decided to only remove the damaged knobs, rather than all of them. Unfortunately, being glued on meant they didn’t remove easily and, as you can see below, the pegs on the back of the knobs did break off, separating from the knob and getting stuck in the drawer itself. This is fixable but obviously not ideal if I had wanted to remove all the knobs. For this reason, I decided not to replace all the knobs, but just give them a facelift, so to speak.
Filling and Sanding the Drawers
Some of the drawer fronts weren’t in the best condition, with chipped corners and visible evidence of woodworm in the past. Although I won’t be doing anything about those chips (they’re added character right?!), I did want to repair the woodworm damage as these holes would have been even more visible if I just went straight on with paint. To repair this damage, I used a light application of Ronseal Wood Filler* over the holes, which I then sanded once dry.
Repairing the Damaged Knobs
The knobs were slightly trickier to repair given how eaten they were. I still used the Ronseal Wood Filler* but used my finger to apply a very small amount each time. It probably took around 3-4 layers to build up the filler and essentially re-build the part of the knob that had been eaten. After a good sand though, you can see it looked pretty decent!
Cleaning the Drawers with Sugar Soap
Before I could get my paint brushes out, I needed to give the chest of drawers a good scrub down to remove any dirt, grime and dust. Sugar soap is best for this – just mix it with hot water and use a cloth to lift the dirt away! Given how old this chest of drawers is – there was A LOT of dirt coming off. My top tip is to always make sure to change the water often so you’re not just pushing dirty water around.
Applying V33 Multi-Surface Renovation Paint
I decided to paint the chest of drawers in two colours; one on the frame and one on the drawers. As our attic bedroom is quite dark, I wanted the colours to be light and bold to hopefully help brighten the space a little. I also felt a dark colour would get lost in such a dark space. With that in mind, I picked V33 Multi-Surface Renovation paint in Honey Yellow* for the frame and Bohemian Rose* for the drawers. This is not the usual kind of colour palette I would go for – but I’m always up for experimenting and this felt like a great project to try something new. Plus, as I say, this dark attic bedroom was crying out for some colour!!
V33 Multi-Surface Renovation Paint comes with an additif which you mix into the paint before use. You do need to give the paint quite a good mix – I was mixing for around 5 minutes to make sure the paint was fully mixed and the colour was even.
I used a small brush first to apply the paint to any corners and crevices. Then I used a short pile roller for the rest of the paintwork. The coverage of this paint is great and it’s really easy to apply too! As the name suggests, V33 Multi-Surface Renovation paint can be used on over 20 different surfaces so if your project included painting metal hinges on a door or glass knobs, you wouldn’t need to change paints. Saving time and money!
V33 Multi-Surface Renovation paint is also hard-wearing with high resistance to water, knocks and scratches, which makes it perfect for areas of heavy use, such as furniture projects like this. I applied a total of 3 coats in the end for full coverage, leaving 6 hours between each coat.
For the drawer fronts, I only needed 2 coats, repeating the same method as above – using both a paintbrush and a short pile roller to apply the paint. The painting part of this project was actually really quick to do – I probably spent more time cleaning the drawers than I did painting them!
Rejuvenating the Drawer Knobs
The last part of this makeover was to give the drawer knobs a facelift. I decided to use a product called ‘Rub n Buff’* for this, which is essentially a metal-effect wax that you rub onto a surface. I’ll be using the colour ‘Antique Gold’.
I applied masking tape around the drawer knobs and then squeezed out a pea-sized amount of the product to rub over. One thing to mention with this product is that there is a tone variation where I had got paint on the knobs (or the ones where I had used filler). This isn’t hugely noticeable, but you can see it’s dried slightly more matt in those areas. To achieve a perfect finish on a surface that isn’t even – I would highly recommend painting the surface first in one solid colour before application.
Nevertheless, I’m still happy with the finish and it really does look quite authentic!
A Finished Look at the Drawers
Once complete, I put the drawers back into the unit and prayed the two colours I’d picked worked well together in the room. Thankfully, they do and this corner of our attic is now a much happier, brighter, and sunnier space!
Although the drawers are still imperfect in many ways, the V33 Multi-Surface Renovation Paint has gone a long way to make a huge improvement on the dull, tired drawers that was once before.
I love that this makeover was really quick and easy to achieve, without the need to pour hours into sanding or applying an undercoat/primer, which is perfect for a piece of furniture that isn’t necessarily the “forever furniture” of this room.
I’m really happy with the overall finish! The finish on the paint is smooth and its hard-wearing abilities mean it should withstand the heavy use that comes with a chest of drawers. Did I mention that I’m also very pleased to finally have somewhere to put all my clothes finally!
So I hope this little tutorial was useful if you’re looking to update a piece of furniture using V33 Multi-Surface Renovation Paint. The process is basically the same for all surfaces and I’ll definitely be looking to try this paint on some more surfaces in the future too.
Happy DIYing!
*AD: This post was sponsored by V33. All words and opinions are my own.
*This post contains affiliate links where an asterisk (*) is used.
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