How to create cross stitch drawers

Habitat bright ideas with Fleur Thorpe – DIY projects

Paint a pretty retro cross stitch embroidery pattern effect, on a set of drawers and give them a new lease of life.

Wall colour – Resene Quarter Crisp Green.

You will need

• Sandpaper – 160 grit
• Resene Quick Dry
• Small foam roller and tray
• Soft sanding block or very fine finishing sandpaper
• Resene Lustacryl in your choice of colours; Fleur used Resene Sauvignon
• Resene testpots in your choice of colours; Fleur used Resene Cupid, Resene Glamour Puss, Resene Rouge, Resene Highland, Resene Green House, Resene Reverie, Resene Valour and Resene Influential
• Painters tape
• Small craft paint brush
• Ruler and pencil
• A print out of a cross stitch embroidery pattern

Instructions

Step 1:  Remove the drawers. Number each drawer on the back so that you know which one fits in which space when you put them back in. Remove the handles.

Step 2:  Using 160 grit sandpaper, sand the drawer fronts and the body of the drawers. Pay particular attention to the edges and corners where paint may be cracking and flaking. Make sure you remove all loose paint. Wipe down with a soft cloth to remove all the dust.

Step 3:  Use a small foam roller to paint the drawer fronts and the body of the drawers with Resene Quick Dry. Once dry, lightly sand everything with a soft sanding block or very fine finishing sandpaper. Don’t skip this step! It makes all the difference to the smoothness of the final paint finish. Dust down with a soft cloth.

Use a clean foam roller and apply two coats of Resene Lustacryl in your choice of colour, leaving the first coat to dry before applying the second coat. Fleur used Resene Sauvignon. Leave the paint to harden and cure for a few days.

Step 4:  Put the drawers back in. Run a length of painters tape up the front corner of the drawers. Repeat this with another length of tape, parallel and 3cm from the first tape. Using a ruler and pencil, make small marks up both lengths of tape at 3cm intervals.

Step 5:  Using a small craft paint brush, make an ‘X’ between the pencil marks, using your embroidery pattern as a guide.

Step 6: Once you have completed the length of the tape from top to bottom, measure to the left 3cm at several points along the length of the tape and carefully remove the tape and reposition it along the new measurement marks. Repeat the process of painting ‘X’ using your Resene testpots as per your pattern.

Top tip: If you are left-handed, start your pattern on the right-hand side of the drawers so that as you move the tape across each time, your hand won’t smudge the wet paint that you have just painted.

Step 7: Repeat the process of measuring 3cm across, moving the tape over, and painting on the ‘X’s’. Once the paint is dry, replace the handles or update with new ones for a fresh look.

Styling and images by Fleur Thorpe, 2019.