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!

modern 6 drawer wood dresser before painted navy blue

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

Table of Contents

Supplies Used For Painting Furniture Navy Blue

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Grab our list of 10 must have painting furniture supplies too!

Prepare and Prime Dresser Before Painting

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.

Check out this post to learn more about how to clean furniture before painting.

scuff sanding the dresser with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a foam sanding sponge

This must have been before I bought my SurfPrep sander that you see in almost every other one of my makeovers now. Read this post to learn more about the best sanders for furniture.

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

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.

Read this post to learn how to stop stains from coming through 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.

Read more about the best primers for painting furniture here!

Paint Dresser Navy Blue

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.

Learn all about how to prevent overspray when painting furniture here!

putting tape and pretaped plastic inside the drawers

The next day I put the paint into my paint sprayer. Check out this post to learn about the best HVLP paint sprayers for furniture.

I used Country Chic Paint’s Peacoat blue color, and mixed it with some water to thin it out. Check out the best blue chalk paint for furniture here. Learn how to thin paint for a paint sprayer here!

Check out my honest and detailed Country Chic Paint Review here.

Here are some more Dark Blue Painted Furniture ideas to inspire you!

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.

spraying the dresser with the fuji paint sprayer and navy blue chalk paint

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. Learn about the best wood fillers for furniture here!

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

Topcoat Navy Blue Dresser

Then I cleaned out my sprayer. Read this post to learn how to clean a paint sprayer.

The biggest bummer about chalk paint is that it needs a clear topcoat. Check this post to learn more about the best topcoats 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.

spraying semigloss topcoat on the navy blue chalk painted dresser

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.

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:

And here’s what it looks like now.

side view of the navy blue painted dresser

navy blue painted 6 drawer dresser with gold knobs and leather pulls

More Before And After Makeovers

Click any of these “before” photos below to view the “after” of that makeover.

closeup of navy blue painted dresser and new leather and gold hardware

closeup of the secret compartment hidden between the top 2 drawers

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??