Easy DIY Shabby Chic Wardrobe Tutorial

As the saying goes – “Make do and mend!”

Google might tell you that you need to spend £800 on a Shabby Chic wardrobe, but we’re telling you otherwise!

With a lick of luxury chalk paint, you can transform your old, unwanted furniture into a Shabby Chic masterpiece.

That’s what Sarah Williams does for a living and she’s going to show you how it’s done. For an easy step-by-step guide to painting your own Shabby Chic wardrobe, just scroll down!

How To Create Your Own Shabby Chic Wardrobe

Sarah’s client had a beautifully carved wooden wardrobe but, it looked a little boring in it’s natural form.

For Sarah’s Shabby Chic makeover, she used:

• Rainbow Chalk Paint in Clotted Cream
• Rainbow Chalk Paint in Antique Gold
• A paint brush
• A paint roller
• Rainbow Clear Furniture Wax

The Undercoat

Due to the rich pigmentation of our Chalk Paints, Sarah didn’t need to use a primer. Instead, she went straight in with the paint.

The undercoat layer was applied using a roller due to the large surface area. This left a smooth, silky finish.

But, to achieve a natural hand-painted Shabby Chic look, Sarah was going to do the second coat with a brush.

After the entire wardrobe was covered in the Clotted Cream chalk paint, she left it to dry for around 30 minutes.

Creating Brush Strokes

Once the wardrobe was dry to the touch, Sarah went over her base coat with a large paint brush, using long brush strokes.

This meant that, once the second coat had dried, the paint strokes were visible, giving an authentic shabby chic appearance.

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Finishing Touches For The Gold Detail Shabby Chic Wardrobe

Sarah used our Metallic Antique Gold colour to fill in the swirly detail on the front of the wardrobe and the small lock on the side.

Gold and white is a classic and modern Shabby Chic duo, which would suit any bedroom!

If your wardrobe doesn’t have carved details like this one, you could use a stencil to paint a design or jazz it up by attaching new handles.

To finish, Sarah used a sparing layer of the Rainbow Clear Furniture Wax to the entire wardrobe to protect the paint and keep it looking fresher for longer!

And There You Have It…

A Shabby Chic wardrobe doesn’t have to cost you a bomb! In fact, the total cost for up-cycling this wardrobe with our Shabby Chic Chalk Paint was just £24.59 – And it can all be done in an afternoon!

To view our entire collection of rich matte and metallic shades, click here. Or, buy the exact colours from this tutorial, scroll down and use the product boxes below to add them straight to your basket!

Send your before and after pictures to info@rainbowchalk.com with your name and contact details to be featured on our blog!