Australian Flag Dresser

I always think of my painted furniture as art and I’m so excited to share with you my latest creation, an Australian flag dresser.

You guys know I like to name my furniture and this Australian Flag Dresser is going to be known as Ozzie. Get it Oz, Australia. Okay, well, I thought it was clever. This piece is very special. I found the dresser a year ago at my friend Colin’s barn. He runs Bent Nail Farm Antiques and it was a really pretty old dresser. I think probably late 1800s. It was very musty inside and there was some damage in areas and the drawers didn’t move very well. The handles were not original.

Here’s a look at the before:

Well, my good friend Jann asked me if I could paint her husband (Chris) a dresser with the Australian flag on it. It was Chris’ birthday and she wanted to surprise him. We collaborated in secret. I’ve worked on a few British flags over the years, but this is the first time I worked on the Australian flag. It is more intricate than that Union Jack.

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I know many of you paint furniture, and I thought it would be fun to share my process with you in case you want to create an Australian flag on furniture. I always prep my furniture really well. For paint to adhere properly, you need a clean surface. So I started by scuff sanding the entire dresser. Then I vacuumed it to get rid of all the dust. I followed up by washing the dresser down with mineral spirits, then denatured alcohol, followed by warm water. Since there were knots in the original piece, I wiped on two coats of clear shellac. I don’t always do this with dark pieces but since the stars and stripes were white I didn’t want the knots bleeding through in time.

To start with I painted the entire dresser in two coats of Napoleanic Blue Chalk Paint®

I borrowed a projector from some friends, an Espon projector, and projected the Australian Flag from my computer.

I actually moved a few stars down so that the flag would span the full dresser.

I used a chalk pencil to trace the flag.

Then I used smaller decorative paint brushes to paint the flag pattern. I started with Pure White Chalk Paint.

Then I went back and painted the red bits. The red is Emperor’s Silk but I did an under coat of Primer Red. The Emperor’s Silk is a thinner paint and would have required many coats.

Doing the layered paints gave a richness to the red.

I used 220 and 400 grit sand paper to lightly distress the dresser. Then I applied two coats of clear wax.

I like using a wax brush and cheesecloth to apply the wax. I buffed the entire piece with a siff brush.

We didn’t want the pulls to detract from the flag and decided to go with these from D. Lawless Hardware.

They’re so pretty and have a lovely antique look to them.

Here’s how Ozzie came out:

I love the warm wood that shows through from the distressing.

I wiped hemp oil onto the interior of the drawers and applied wax to the runners to help the drawers move more smoothly.

I tried a few different looks for staging.

Sometimes it’s hard to take photos on our landing.

We brought the dresser over to Chris and Jann’s house over the weekend and I’m happy to share that he loves it!

I hope you guys like it, too!

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