Painting Furniture Navy Blue

Let’s walk through painting furniture navy blue with chalk paint to get a perfectly smooth, professional-looking finish that will last!

Get more Blue Painted Furniture Ideas here!

This is what the dresser looked like before I turned it into a navy blue painted dresser.

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Painting Furniture Navy Blue

1. Prep
2. Prime
3. Paint
4. Topcoat
5. Attach New Hardware

Supplies Used:

• Electric Screwdriver
• Krud Kutter and Damp Rag
• 220 Grit Sandpaper
• Shop-Vac
• Tack Cloth
• Clear Shellac
• Painters Tape and Pre-Taped Plastic
• Peacoat Blue Chalk Paint
• Respirator
• Paint Sprayer
• Topcoat
• Leather Pulls

Step 1: Prep

First, you gotta get the furniture prepared for paint.

Here’s how I prepare furniture for paint.

So I unscrewed the knobs and pulls, cleaned it with Krud Kutter, like I always do, and then I scuff sanded the entire surface by hand with 220 grit sandpaper.

This must have been before I bought my SurfPrep sander that you see in almost every other one of my makeovers now.

Then I vacuumed up the dust, and check this out!

Step 2: Prime

Alright, so after all the dust was cleaned up, we took the dresser out to the garage, and I sprayed it with 2 coats of clear shellac.

This helps the paint stick, but just as importantly, it blocks bleedthrough stains from coming through the paint and staining your paint.

Shellac is really strong, so it’s really best to spray outside.  I like to let it dry at least overnight before I paint over it, but it dries within minutes usually.

Step 3: Paint

So, after it was dry to the touch, I taped off the drawers with tape and plastic so I wouldn’t get paint inside the drawers, and so I can leave the drawers in when I spray.

The next day I put the paint into my paint sprayer.

Check out this post to find the best paint sprayer for you!

I used Country Chic Paint’s Peacoat blue color, and mixed it with some water to thin it out.

Then, out in the garage, we hung up some plastic and put the dresser on some 5 gallon buckets.

I put on my respirator and then I sprayed 2 coats of paint, letting it dry to the touch between coats.

Here’s how to use the Fuji Paint Sprayer.

I love how quickly chalk paint dries!

After the 2^nd coat of paint, I noticed some dings that needed filled, so I filled those in and sanded them smooth.

Then I opened the drawers and sprayed the top and sides of the drawer front with 2 coats of paint.

Step 4: Topcoat

Then I cleaned out my sprayer.

The biggest bummer about chalk paint is that it needs a clear topcoat.

Check this post to learn more about the best topcoat for painting furniture.

So, while the sprayer dried, I mixed up some semi-gloss water-based topcoat.

I mixed it really good to get it all mixed together well… that part is super important when using water-based poly.

I added a little bit of water to it, and then I cleaned off the dresser with a tack cloth to make sure there wasn’t any dust on my fresh paint.

And then I sprayed a coat of polyurethane and let it dry.

Learn how to spray polyurethane here.

At this point it all felt kind of rough.

So I lightly sanded it with 400 grit sandpaper to make the finish feel smooth. Then I cleaned off all of the dust, and sprayed 2 more coats of polyurethane.

Learn more about the best polyurethane for furniture here.

Step 5: Attach New Hardware

For a fun twist, I put new leather pulls and gold knobs on…

Watch the 3 minute makeover of this dresser here:

After

And here’s what it looks like now.

Have you ever seen a secret compartment inside a dresser like this??

It hides between the top 2 drawers, and just is attached with a hinge, so it can twist all the way out, and you can put some little secret things in there.

Pretty cool huh?

This one sold SO fast, and went into a teen boy’s room. What do you think??

You Might Also Like:

• Deep Blue DIY Dresser Makeover
• Navy French Dresser Video Makeover
• The Navy Dresser with Textured Drawers

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