The WoodUbend French Chic Drawers are a great upcycling project for beginners and professionals alike! Each drawer has a unique pattern, tied together by colours and shapes. Read more to find out how we made it!
For this project we wanted to try something different. Colour plays an important role in upcycling furniture. It creates a feel and mood for the piece. A dark grey cabinet can feel sophisticated and stormy, whereas a pastel pink drawer can feel light and feminine. When we rescued these tired, old drawers, we just could not pick a style!
So, we searched through our product catalogues and selected a few contenders of stencils and WoodUbend mouldings that we wanted to use. We placed them against the drawers, looking at Solly Jo for a nod of approval. Instead, her eyes glistened. “Let’s use all of them” she grinned.
But the question remained- how can we match them together without it looking messy and unorganised? The answer? Colour.
These drawers are light blue and white. Keeping this consistent colour pattern allowed us to make the contrasting stencils appear intentional and quirky.
The overall result of these drawers is simply incredible. They are charming, unique, and homely. Their elegance and beauty are undeniable.
WoodUbend French Chic Drawer 1
Products used:
Posh Chalk Metallic Paste in White Titanium
Posh Chalk Precious Collection Diamond Dust
La Magic Fluer de Sel
La Magic Paint Cotton
The Water Lily Stencil on the drawer.We painted the base of this draw using La Magic Fleur de Sel paint. This is a soft, duck egg blue. We applied masking tape to the edges of the piece so that when we later applied the stencil it would have a crips edge upon removal.
For the stencil, we chose the Posh Chalk Water Lily Stencil. This is a floral favourite and complimented the blue base colour. It has delicate vines twirling across the surface that wrap around lilies and leaves.
To create this raised stencil effect, we made a mixture of Posh Chalk Metallic Paste in White Titanium and Posh Chalk Precious Collection Diamond Dust. Diamond Dust is made with Swarovski crystals and is used to add shimmering texture to paint and pastes.
When stencilling, we recommend using a spray glue on the stencil before application. This helps to prevent bleeding. We smoothed our paste mixture onto the stencil using a rubber squeegee. The reveals are always so satisfying!
Then, we applied the 3rd generation WoodUbend trim TR124 to frame the edges. The 3rd Generation WoodUbend are our strongest and most flexible generation yet. The revolutionary designs are crisper and more detailed, and the footprint of the mouldings has been designed for better adhesion to surfaces with less glue expulsion in hard-to-reach areas. Also, due to its incomparable density, it holds its heat for longer. This gives the user more opportunity to position it before it cools.
To get a seamless finish, we mitred the trims. You can learn more about how to mitre when using WoodUbend trims here.
The first drawer complete!WoodUbend French Chic Drawer 2
Products used:
Posh Chalk Metallic Paste White Titanium
Posh Chalk Metallic Paste Blue Prussian
Posh Chalk Dainty Trellis Stencil
La Magic Paint Cotton
For this drawer, we wanted to alternate the colour scheme of the first draw. This means that the raised stencilling would be blue, and the base would be white. La Magic Fleur de Sel does not have the consistency to create a raised stencil, so we used Posh Chalk Metallic Paste in Blue Prussian mixed with White Titanium to achieve a colour match. Again, we applied our texturizing Posh Chalk Precious Collection Diamond Dust.
We repeated the simple steps of stencil application. Watch this video to see how.
To compliment the Water Lily Stencil found on the previous drawer, we selected the WoodUbend trim TR124 which features classical swirls. This helped to tie the two drawers together.
The Dainty Trellis stencil applied to the drawer.WoodUbend French Chic Drawer 3
Products used:
Posh Chalk Posh Harlequin Stencil
Posh Chalk Metallic Paste in White Titanium
Posh Chalk Precious Collection Diamond Dust
This was our most interesting drawer, as we wanted to create an all-white drawer. Using all white products created a neutral drawer which would not conflict with the pattern and style of the first two. This gave us more creative freedom for the final drawer.
The 3 drawers complete!Products used:
Posh Chalk Long Wall Panel Stencil
Posh Chalk Metallic Paste in White Titanium
Posh Chalk Metallic Paste in Blue Prussian
La Magic Paint Cotton
With the creative freedom given to us by our neutral, geometric 3rd drawer, we chose a more intricate stencil. We replicated the mixture of the 2nd drawer, mixing Posh Chalk Metallic Paste in White Titanium and Blue Prussian to replicate La Magic Fleur de Sel
WoodUbend French Chic Side and Top
Products used:
WoodUbend Trim TR720
WoodUbend Trim TR714
WoodUbend Trim TR7124
WoodUbend Applique WUB301
Posh Chalk Metallic Paste White Titanium
La Magic Sweet Milk
La Magic Fleur de Sel
We painted the sides of the drawers with La Magic Fleur de Sel. With two coats, the body hailed a gentle blue that complimented the vivid drawers beautifully. We left the top of the drawers unpainted and waxed it with La Magic Sweet Milk. It is a soft white that is almost transparent, adding a pale hue to the grain of the wood (and a wonderful smell!).
La Magic Sweet Milk wax applied to the top.The original piece came with a small panel for the drawer top to prevent items falling down the back. We wanted to keep this element, and so applied a selection of WoodUbend trims. WoodUbend trims are a fantastic way to add texture to a surface. Several patterns complement each other and can be used to create an ornate design. Here we applied TR720, TR714, and TR124. You can find out how to use and apply decoupage here.
For the final touches, we applied the stunning WoodUbend centrepiece WUB301. We did not want to keep the flared edges of this moulding as it did not match the style of the piece. So, after heating the moulding we trimmed the ‘ears’ of the moulding to create a sharp drop. This was applied to the centre of the side. We dry brushed it with some Posh Chalk Metallic Paste in White Titanium to add a subtle highlight.
The WUB301 with the ‘ears’ trimmed.Here are the finished drawers! The overall is result is so cute and romantic. This is up for sale on our Etsy page, make sure to check it out!
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