How to Paint a Mural on an Armoire

Set up a workspace and gather your materials. Painting a mural on an armoire takes some time, so make sure the workspace is available for a week or more, and out of the way of foot traffic, children and pets.

Make a scale drawing of the front and sides of the armoire. An easy way to do this is to take a photo, enlarge it on a copy machine to fit standard size 8 1/2-inch by 11 or 11 by 17-inch paper. Trace the enlarged image onto tracing paper. The enlarged image will give you enough room to sketch in your design.

Choose the design that will fit the number of panels you plan to paint. There will be two to four panels on the front, and one or two on each side. You can choose to ignore the boundaries of the panels and paint the image or designs freely across the surface if you prefer. Your mural can portray floral arrangements, stenciled patterns, scenes from your imagination or familiar landscapes.

Make a simplified sketch of the mural on your scale drawing to see how the elements work together. Use colored pencils to block in basic colors. When you are satisfied, make a full scale drawing of each panel to transfer to the clean, sanded wood surface of the armoire. Alternatively, if you feel confident enough, start painting freehand or stenciling directly onto the panels---in which case you can skip Step 5.

Transfer the design to the armoire. Use graphite paper or do-it-yourself transfer paper to transfer the full-scale images to the wood. Simply tape the graphite paper face down on the panel, cover it with your image and trace the outlines with a pencil. Press down to make a clear transfer onto the wood. You can also use a projector, a drawing grid or the freehand method for transferring the design.

Use acrylics or oil-based paint to create your mural. An airbrush can be used with stencils or to create a uniform surface over large areas. Block in large areas of color before concentrating on details.

Apply finishing touches to the paint after carefully examining every inch of the mural surface for areas you may have missed, or that can be improved.

Make sure paints are sufficiently dry before varnishing. For acrylics, wait one or two weeks before applying the varnish. Oil paints need six months to a year of drying time before varnish application. Remember that paint can be dry to the touch on the surface, but underneath it takes much longer to cure and harden properly.