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Piping on Furniture Technique – Add French Details to a Plain Dresser

What is a piping on furniture technique? It’s where I take my love of baking and add piping decoration to furniture to create French details.

Up close picture of the gold piping and the gold and pink pulls.
A mint green dresser with gold piping.

Piping on Furniture Technique

Have you ever had a weird idea but you’re afraid to share it with the rest of the world? I’ve had this idea for YEARS and I have shared it with a few people and each person thought it was a bit weird and didn’t really get it. I’ve never seen it before nor has anyone else so it’s hard to try to explain without actually doing it. You just know deep down in your heart that even though you’re afraid to share it that you just have to anyway?

Well, here is my strange idea: I’ve combined my love of baking and painting furniture into one cool idea (well I think so anyway 😉 to come up with a piping on furniture technique.

I love all the intricate detailing on French furniture but it’s so hard to reproduce, especially the tiny little details. I always imagined piping a design on a piece of furniture just like a cake. So I tried a number of different materials and drywall mud worked the best. Think of all the beautful ideas you can do on furniture!

I shared many videos on my Instagram stories, they are saved under ‘Crazy Piping’ in my highlights. I’ve also done a project very similar to this in my book on a trumeau mirror.

Ready mix drywall compound with piping bag and scissors.

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Supplies:

Directions:

1. Choose a flat surface of a piece of furniture (like the sides of a dresser) and turn it on its side. The drywall mud is a bit runny so to keep it in place, it’s best to work on a flat surface to avoid drips.

2. Draw a border along the edges of that side (I traced the thickness of a yard stick).

The wooden dresser with all the drawers taken out.

Note: If you have a cut out area (like the base of this vanity) then trace from the highest point.

A wooden measuring stick on the dresser.

3. Measure 3 inches in (along those lines) from the edge, make a mark and draw a curved line (I share a video on Instagram stories under ‘Crazy Piping’).

The lines drawn on the dresser in pencil for measuring out the piping.

4. Put the big part of the coupler inside a disoposable decorating bag. Cut the tip off the bag with scissors. Add the tip to the coupler and screw on the top part of the coupler to the bag. Scoop in drywall mud with a big spoon and tie the end with a clip or tie.

Mixing the compound drywall mud and filling the piping bag.

5. With a steady hand, pipe along the lines you just made making sure to keep your tip on the furniture constantly and apply pressure evenly from the bag. If you make a mistake, you can wipe it all off with a spatula and start again. Don’t worry about it being perfect, some little bumps look great!

Do the 4 long lines first and the curves last.

You might want to practice on a scrap piece of wood first.

A practice piping on the wood.
A piece of wood with the piping on it.
Jamie piping onto the dresser.
The piping compound on the dresser creating a French vintage vibe.

6. Wait 24 hours to dry.

Close up shot of the piping drying on the dresser.

TIP:

Add your decorating bag to a freezer bag when you’re waiting for the first side to dry. If you make a mistake, just use a baking spatula to wipe off and start again!

The piping bag in a plastic sandwich bag in between piping.

7. To do the opposite side of the furniture piece, have it rest on something sturdy but don’t let anything touch the drywall mud (even though it’s dry, you don’t want to have it sitting on that side for another 24 hours). For this vanity, I used a crate that fit perfectly in the middle of the piping. For the green dresser, I had it laying on two large crocks.

Repeat the piping as above and let dry for 24 hours.

The dresser on its side drying.

8. Prime and paint as normal making sure to get into all the details of the piping with a sash brush.

Painting the dresser a mint green.

9. After painting the furniture piece, add gold paint to the piping detail and any other intricate details on the furniture.

Painting the piping detail a gold colour.

10. Use an angled craft brush to go over the overlap with the original paint color.

Taking the green paint and touching up the places where the gold was.

The Finished Look

And voila! It’s complete!

You might remember this dresser that I painted a couple of years ago. I haven’t shown you photos of my daughter’s room (except on Instagram) so this is the first project I’m sharing with you. A newly painted dresser with French detailing and a matching vanity. Her room is going to look so gorgeous and French when it’s all done!

The green dresser with gold piping and gold pulls.

I’m currently painting the vanity that is shown in the piping photos above but I had already the dresser painted.

I used Brook by Fusion Mineral Paint over the entire dresser. I LOVE this green!

For the gold, I mixed both of these paints together 1:1 ratio:

DecoArt American Decor Metallics – Vintage Brass & Champagne Gold

The beautiful gold piping on the side of the dresser.
The dresser in a little girls room with a pink armchair beside it.
The dresser up close with the gold details.
There is a white distressed mirror above the dresser.

I hope you loved this crazy furniture piping technique as much as I do! It’s the perfect way to add French details to furniture, wouldn’t you say?

Make sure to pin it for later!

Piping on Furniture Technique poster.
Add French Details by Piping on Furniture graphic.

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29 Comments

  2. Hi Jami ,
    I recently found your blog and your one of my favorites! I love your down to earth honesty 🤗 Your home is so beautiful as are you .
    My Name is Donna Jameson and wanted you to know I pre ordered your book and am counting down the days to June 12 . I am your some what close neighbor living in Missouri U.S.A .

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Donna! And thank you so much for being here. Are you a subscriber to my newsletter? I’m sending everyone who pre-orders a book a signed bookplate to add to their book so email me your address and I can send you one. [email protected]
      Hugs, Jamie

      Reply

      1. I just found your blog and LOVE your style and projects. I ordered a copy of your book, but didn’t know about you until after the pre-order. Any chance I could get a signed bookplate for my copy?

        Keep up the great work- Your style is amazing and your down-to-earth vibe is refreshing!

        Reply

  3. Jamie, I love your style and the ideas you come up with! I have been doing something similar for many many years. (as a military wife, raising 4 boys, we were on a very strict budget:) However, did you know you can get this same affect using a hot glue gun? Twenty five years ago we bought an old farmhouse that has lathe and plaster walls. And if you did not know, over time plaster cracks. We noticed that for several years the crack kept getting wider and wider. So one day, on a whim, I decided to use my hot glue gun to fill in the cracks. Once it was dry we sanded it down to make it as flat as we could and painted it the same wall color. It has not cracked any further since! And that was 12 years ago! In the foyer, I realized the hot-glue-filled- in-cracks looked like a “tree”! So…..you guessed it! I hand painted the “trunk and branches” (a/k/a hot glue:) brown, and sponged on “leaves”! Keep up the great ideas! I look forward to reading your posts:)

    Reply

    1. Hi Goldie,
      Thanks for your comment! I love doing things on a budget too. I’ve tried hot glue for different things too, and regular glue. It’s so cool, isn’t it? We are both creatives at heart.
      Hugs, Jamie

      Reply

  4. Love how this turned out.
    I did a similar thing at the top of the wall in my hallway, I piped a single line in “S” shape then piped leaves like on a cake along each curve. The hardest part was painting it after as the white would show through the color I was painting the wall. I was taught patients!!!!! I get so many positive comments.
    So no idea is crazy.
    Love your blog.

    Reply

    1. I love that, Olive! I love finding different ways of making things. And yes, patience! Now I’m going to try to come up with an idea that includes paint color.
      Hugs, Jamie

      Reply

  6. You will have better luck without touching the surface. Allow the mixture to “fall” on the wood. There is always a squiggle when touching due to the small tremor in the hand from the beating of your heart. If you need to stop and start, use a spatula to cut off a clean edge, start again and use a damp paint brush to smooth the connection. Use the 16 inch bags as they hold more. When doing fine work a small bag is better.
    Great idea, am going to try it. Going to use forms molded from paper clay to add interest.

    Reply

    2. Thanks for your comment, Jauquetta. I tried that way many times but I found it very difficult. Much different than decorating a cake 😉
      Hugs, Jamie

      Reply

  7. Super cute! I love the green with gold accents. I am going to have to try this myself. Thanks for the inspiration.

    Reply

  8. I think this is such a cool idea!! I love adding custom little details like this to furniture! Adding it to my “to try list!”

    Reply

  10. The green and the gold looks beautiful. This is a great idea to add texture to furniture. Brilliant! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday. Hope to see you at the party next week!

    Reply

  13. I am featuring this gorgeous makeover at Merry Monday tonight! I hope you will stop by to check it out when it is live at 9:00 est. Hope you will link up again!

    Reply

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