Bureaus like this are terrific to paint. They have lots of large surfaces, including the front ‘lid’ which can act like a picture with a frame so you can do something quite decorative on it. Here Annie painted her bureau using both frottage and stencilling to make a scene on the front of the drawers.

Annie painted this bureau using both frottage and stencilling. The body of the desk was first painted in Chalk Paint in Olive. Annie then painted over this with Greek Blue diluted with water. Working in sections, she pressed crumpled newspaper over the still-wet blue paint and rubbed it down before peeling it back. The result is a randomly textured surface showing both colours to a greater or lesser extent.

For the fronts of the drawers, Annie applied her Trees Stencil using a number of Chalk Paint colours to bring the scene to life. Everything is sealed with Clear Chalk Paint Wax for protection.

The wall behind is painted with Wall Paint in French Linen.