Amanda Husie
How to plan stripes on furniture
Updated: Apr 1, 2021
My daughter needed a desk for her room as she is now school aged. She requested black and white stripes... my DIY mind cringed at first and then got a little excited as I researched some inspiration photos. Together with my 5 year old's design ideas and my skill with painting wood we made it happen. (affiliate links throughout)
Materials
- Painters Tape (buy at your local hardware store or order online
- Primer! Get a good one (my favorite is Stain Blocker by General Finishes)
- Paint (I used black and white enamel paint from Sherwin Williams)
- Spray paint for hardware (I used champagne gold)
Here's what we started with

I found this solid little vanity on the side of the road... luck I know, but you can find stuff like this for under $20 pretty easy. This photo is taken after a good sanding starting at 100 working up to 220 and then a good scrub.

Priming is so important on this project. I needed the white stripes to be vibrant and this old wood holds on to a lot of stuff that likes to pop through especially through white. Do not hesitate to opt for the slightly more expensive primer if you plan to paint a lighter color
Stay with me... Stripes are tough to coordinate and not look too crazy... So me and my daughter drew up a draft first! I just used the "markup" function on my iPhone's photo viewer i drew up the first pic and she came in with the final top stripes... this is our plan!

After taping off my black areas I went at it with white paint. I let it dry overnight and taped again to paint the black! Hardware is original and just got a spritz of gold. I'm in love with the whole thing. It suites my child perfectly and she's proud of her design which is the best result.