Nightstand Painted in Dixie Belle Bunker Hill Blue

Painting furniture has never been easier with Dixie Belle’s chalk paint product line! This tutorial will walk you through start to finish from cleaning your furniture to painting it to sealing it properly!

Start with the ugliest pieces of wood furniture! I personally prefer to rehab solid wood pieces as they are easier to work with and they will hold up way better!

I started with a cute little nightstand that my mom had given me that had a lot of water damage to the stain. Luckily, the wood was completely in tack and had no bubbling or any kind of damage so I was really lucky and didn’t have to sand!

Check out 10 Ways to Make Over Furniture with Chalk Paint

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Before painting your furniture it is absolutely necessary to clean it…and clean it good! I swear by Dixie Belle’s White Lightening Cleaner. I have used other cleaners before and thoroughly washed my furniture and THEN followed it with the White Lightening Cleaner and I can never understand all of the dirt and grime that still comes off. So, now I just skip the prewash with other cleaners and go straight to the White Lightening and am good to go!

*TIP: Be certain to reallllly wipe down your furniture with a clean rag and water several times after you wash it with White Lightening. I have had in the past issues with my paint sticking in areas where I didn’t get the cleaner completely off.

Check out: Before & After Projects Using Dixie Belle Chalk Paint

Next it’s time to pick your color!

For this nightstand I wanted it to go well with my son’s Pottery Barn bedspread. Thankfully Dixie Belle chalk paint has so many colors to choose from, you can always find one that works!

I started with the middle color, Dixie Belle Yankee Blue. I absolutely loved it but it wasn’t quite dark enough and it kind of pulled purple so I figured that wasn’t the best choice.

I then opted for Dixie Belle Bunker Hill Blue and fell in love! I couldn’t have been happier with the color. It’s such a rich, dark, deep blue yet with a brightness that looks so lovely!

I choose to keep the inside walls of the nightstand stained to their original color because they were in really great condition and I wanted to give the nightstand a little more umph! To achieve this look, I used painters tape and taped off my edges.

Sealing Painted Furniture

There are many ways to seal chalk painted furniture, however, because this is a nightstand in my son’s room, I knew I needed the strongest seal there was! I used Dixie Belle Gator Hide which makes it super durable and water resistant. It’s very easy to apply with a paint brush or foam brush. If you use a foam brush, you will be less likely to see brush strokes like you do with the regular paint brushes (you can see brush stokes on this nightstand).

I just love the way it turned out! It looks exactly how I had envisioned it!

Of course this adorable little nightstand isn’t staged with a vintage copper planter with an Ikea plant or a gold letter “B” now that I’ve placed it in his room…instead it’s loaded with Pokemon cards and a lava lamp! haha