A Star-Spangled Dresser Redo for a Special Family

A local interior designer approached us about painting an American flag design on a dresser for a very special family. The dad is a US Marine and the family is currently stationed overseas. The dresser is a surprise for them when they return home. This dresser had to be accurate--a US Marine would surely notice if the flag only had 44 stars or 11 stripes! Here's how we designed and painted this star-spangled dresser redo.
The American flag design was painted on the dresser using American Paint Company all-natural clay chalk and mineral paints in the colors Fireworks Red, Navajo White and Born on the 4th (dark blue).
Here's the "before" shot. Sanding is usually not necessary with American Paint Company paint, but this dresser had thick stencils and several coats of super-shiny latex paint. We started this project by sanding it smooth so the stencils wouldn't show through our new flag design.
Next, we painted the cabinet a dark blue color called "Born on the 4th" ...
... and painted all of the drawers with APC's "Navajo White".
The challenge for this project was to compute the width of the stripes and the size of the stars in correct proportion to the overall width (hoist) and length (fly) of the flag. Dividing the height of the dresser by 13 to calculate the width of the stripes was the easy part.


We also needed to figure out the size of the blue union and the diameter the stars needed to be in order for all 50 of them to fit in perfect proportion to the real deal.


We found a website with detailed information about the American flag to help us calculate this math problem.
Once our calculations were complete, it was time to tape off the stripes using painter's tape for clean, crisp lines.
The stripes were painted with APC's "Firework's Red."
Next it was time to stencil the stars. We found an online site that custom-cut a stencil with all 50 stars at the 1 1/2" diameter we needed. Any larger and all 50 stars wouldn't fit the space. Any smaller and it just wouldn't look right.
Here's what one of the drawers looked like with stars and stripes. We finished the project by sealing the entire dresser with several coats of American Paint Company's Top Coat for a durable, shiny finish.
Here's the finished dresser! We hope this family loves their new patriotic dresser as much as we loved making it for them ... and we thank them for their service to our great nation!
Courtney @ All Things New Again
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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