DIY Striped Armoire Surprise

I spotted an armoire on Jubilee Furniture’s blog not long after Calvin had been born. I’d been looking for something to replace the storage we lost when remodeling the second floor, and this one was the perfect size. I suspected the quality may be lacking because it was priced at just $35, but it was worth taking a look at.

Well, the drawers are wonky, two shelves have been replaced with plywood, and the left door is badly warped. It may not be in the greatest shape, but it does have great lines and it was decent enough to work with — especially since the price was right. That streaky faux-finish had to go though.

Much better! The doors are not perfectly smooth but the armoire has been moved to the hall where the light doesn’t hit it directly, and its imperfections are much less noticeable. I wanted something dark (but not black), so the color I chose was Shaded Fern by Glidden® and Brandon did the painting. But for the inside, I thought, why not have a bit of fun?

Whoa, that’s a whole lot of “fun.” Now you know why I’m calling this a Striped Armoire Surprise! Here’s how it was done. After priming the inside of the armoire, each compartment inside got a different hue. The colors used were Peach Daiquiri (pink), Extra Virgin Olive Oil (yellow), Crisp Linen White, Sea Spray (blue), Shaded Fern, French Stripe Red, and Safari Green — all Glidden® colors.

I used painter’s tape (ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape Delicate Surfaces with Advanced Edge-Lock™ Paint Line Protector 2080EL) along with a paper template to mark the diagonal lines on the doors. (The extra pieces you see are the ones I used for the spacing — obviously they were removed before the stripes were painted.) The drawers were painted white and then taped off horizontally with a thinner tape for variation.

I bought a pint of each color in a satin finish, and I have plenty of paint leftover.

After three coats of paint for each of the first half of the diagonal lines, I removed the tape and let the paint dry completely (at least 24 hours) before taping off for the new stripes the next day. It was easier to use the thinner tape this time, aligning one piece to the top of each stripe and another to the bottom, rather than trying to perfectly fit one piece of thick tape along the entire length.

The colors are so bright and cheery! It would be a little much for my taste to do this treatment to the outside, but I love it as a surprise when you open up the doors.

I am proud to be a 3M sponsored blogger, and, as part of my responsibilities, I get the opportunity to evaluate ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape. Opinions are my own and additional products used in the project were selected by me.

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