Tartan up your furniture

There’s no reason why your furniture can’t match the fabrics in your house. In fact, it’s a great way to pull together a whole look of a room. The plaid fabric on this armchair is replicated on the chest of drawers – a DIY that’s relatively simple to do.

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Start off by sanding back your furniture, then paint the base a neutral colour. If you’re after a rustic or shabby chic look, use sandpaper to rub off the colour slightly when dry. Then paint a grid to match the pattern of your furniture.

To create the stripes, either use masking tape or a long metal ruler as a guide, and carefully apply paint with a small brush. Remember to wipe the ruler clean with a rag after each stripe.

Alternatively, simply use a permanent marker pen with a wide chisel tip. Once again, remember to wipe your ruler after each stripe… just to be sure you don’t transfer ink to where you don’t want it.