• Resene testpots in your choice of colours, or the ones we used
• Sandpaper and a sander (optional)
• Set of drawers you want to upcycle
• New drawer handles, if you want to change the existing ones
• Resene Wallpaper of your choice, if you want to line the drawers
• Sea to Sky 202N Coating Remover, if you need to remove paint/lacquer before you stain and/or Resene Waterborne Smooth Surface Sealer if you are painting over old lacquer

Top tips

• If the drawers are looking a bit worn on the inside, spruce them up with a beautiful wallpaper from the Resene Wallpaper Collection.
• A semi-gloss finish like Resene Lustacryl on the main drawer unit will make it easy to wipe marks off.

Method

1. Remove drawers from unit. If you plan to stain the drawers and the body of your wooden drawer unit, remove any old lacquer and paint first. If it’s a bit stubborn, you may need to use Sea to Sky 2020N Coating Remover.

   Or if you are planning to paint only, use Resene Waterborne Smooth Surface Sealer to help the topcoats grip onto the surface. If the drawer handles are made of wood, you can paint over them in the same colour as the drawer front. Remove the handles all together if you are going to replace them. If your new handles are going to be in a different position, you can fill the previous screw holes with a filler from the eeZee Wood Filler range or use Resene EzyFill Quick. Wait for the filler to dry, then sand it back.

2. Using a roller, apply two coats of paint to the drawer unit, and two coats of different coloured paints to the drawer fronts (the testpot roller kit is handy for this), allowing time to dry between coats. We used Resene Rice Cake for the drawer unit. For the drawer fronts we used Resene Colorwood in Natural Pine, Resene Colorwood in Deep Oak, Resene Quarter Hillary and Resene Barnstorm. When using Resene Colorwood wipe off any excess with a lint free cloth. Once dry apply Resene Aquaclear over the Resene Colorwood to protect the stained finish.

3. Once the drawers are dry, replace the handles (if you removed them) and put the drawers back in the unit and enjoy!