Tatiana Dubinina

The first painting, that i drew in a new house was a landscape on a cabinet. So here i'm sharing my experience.


We moved into a new house in the countryside and we found ourselves to be the owners of a furniture of a previous residents. There was this closet, nothing special, that was just sitting in a kitchen-loundry room. We made this room an actual kitchen and a closet turned out to be useful for us, so we kept it here, but i wanted to do something special with it..Previously i never painted a furniture. I wasn't really inspired by any pictures of a painted cabinets on the Internet, that i searched for. I decided to do everything in my own way, but i didn't really knew, what will come of it in the end.

Choosing a plot for a painting

I am crazy about provance landscapes, accessories, trappings, so the new kitchen i also decided to do in that kind of style. That became the base idea for the front side of a cabinet. I searched and looked for many variations of pictures and paintings and I chose a modular picture, divided into two parts.

The picture from the Internet

I am not a fan of a modular paintings, but vertical long picture like that one fits my idea perfectly.
Also i like that in that painting there is lots of fresh air and clear skies, and also a complecated first plan, the picture is not boring or overcomplecated with details. Of course, i am stealing only like an artist steals. Take a look at how it was before and how it is now:

Materials for painting of the closet

Our closet is made out of a usual clipboard. It has a smooth texture. I could've polished it a little bit to make contact with paints more durable. But i took a chance to not do that and just wiped the sides a little.For the base i bought a white acrylic paintsmoisture-resistant paint for walls and ceilings. With a roller and brushes i painted two layers on a front side of a cabinet with an interval of two hours. On a next day i checked a priming by trying to scratch it with my fingernail. The paints held up well and i thought that priming is done.

I used this materials for the painting:

The sketch for the painting

The next step was painting a sketch with acrylic paints on a white base. I like using ochre paints for the outline. I painted with a stiff brush with just a little bit of water, so the sketch doesn't spread out.

Finished sketch fot the future painting on the cabinetThe upper doors of the cabinet i decided to leave for the skies and mountains. The bottom of the closet gonna be decorated with lilac twigs - this is the front sight for the viewer.The centre of composition i put on an eye level and above. The most colourful part of the painting was plannedto be on a big part of a lilac field, that comes from the lower branches of lavender.

The painting of a cabinet in a provance style

In this painting i used the principle of generalizations, when a picture is assembled from color spots. I purposefully didn't draw small details like branches, leaves, flowers and else, because painting on the cliset is a bright part of the decor and it will attract all attention. Detalization will overcomplecate the picture and the decore of the room in a whole.For that reason when painting was finished i also whiten it over the coloring - the higher, rhe more. That enhanced the airiness of the picture

That's how it turned out

The white edging around the picture i painted a transparent layer with pale lilac acrylic paints, for that i used wide construction stiff brush. That brush and semi-dry paints make the painting look a little stripey and gives it the effect of a wood pattern.

Finished painting turned out to be very different from the original picture, that it was based on.New handles decorated the closet. My husband chose this handles. I really liked how harmonic they look with the whole picture.

The top of the painting turned out to be airy and light.The houses were meant to be more detailed, but as i said previously, in aprocess of drawing i decided to go for a less detailed variant.

With the decoration of this closet our kitchen became more colourful. I dreamed of a room in a provance style - and my dreams became true. I am happy that i decided to do this little project, the result of which began to be a landmark of our house.

I realli enjoy giving the old things brand new life. Even more if this is an important and useful thing like a furniture.

Maybe, my experience will be useful for someone. 

Use it as you wish!