Homegirl shall be moving to her new room soon--as soon as we manage to get it painted and set up, which means that her dresser (which had been residing underneath our tv) will be moving with her.
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| This one. 'Member? |
Enter Goodwill. And the skinny dresser.
The scale was better--it was narrower and longer and it had tons of drawers.
And it was...$11.
(Happy dance)
Before I even started the makeover, I already liked how it looked. It obviously had some rough spots, but the drawers were reinforced and in really good condition. In fact the whole thing was almost in perfect condition except for the top.
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| Bubbles |
Even though I wasn't digging the shiny eighties wood veneer, something about it just felt right. There was a door there where the basket is, but we decided to leave it off. I'm planning to get a taller basket to fit in there and store some toys, although Homegirl thinks that she belongs in the storage area.
I was really, really, really tempted to paint it a pretty color. I see all these beautiful pieces on blogs that have been redone in pretty shades of turquoise or yellows or grays. But...I already had my creamy white paint. It would match other pieces in the house. One of my biggest things about living in a small house is making everything flow. And also, I change my mind A LOT when it comes to decor, so I'm striving to keep the big things neutral and adding color in my accessories.
The original hardware was (of course) brassy gold.
Even if I dug the brassy gold color, they still needed some sprucing up. Rust-Oleum's Oil Rubbed bronze spray paint to the rescue.
This was also my first experiment with DIY chalk paint. I'd heard how well chalk paint covers and how you don't have to sand or prime before you paint. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate sanding and priming? I decided to give it a shot. My sister in law, Lydie, gave me her recipe for chalk paint. Basically, it's one part plaster of paris that's been mixed with a little water till peanut butter smooth, and then three parts paint. Mixed really well. REALLY well. If you don't mix the plaster of paris and water really well first, you'll get lumps that are really hard to stir out. Learn from my mistakes. If you make chalk paint, please please please stir really well.
"I say this on my knees, Jacob Marley."
Anyway, I slapped on the first coat while watching "The New Girl."
And then I ate some pie.
And then I painted some more. And some more. I ended up doing three coats of paint, which is what I would have done with primer + paint. Here are my thoughts on the chalk paint: I liked, no LOVED that I didn't have to sand and prime. I liked that it was low odor. I liked that it went on pretty thick and had pretty good coverage.
However, I did notice that I had some tiny chalk chunks in the finish when it was all dry. It wasn't really a big deal, I just sanded them down in a matter of minutes before I put on a top coat.
I had planned on putting on a layer of wax after painting to protect it and make it smooth, because chalk paint feels like primer when it's dry. But then I thought, duh, why not just put on a thin layer of the original paint? Voila. Smooth finish, plus a teeny bit of extra coverage.
I really like the hardware best. And now I can't wait to organize all those lovely drawers.
I have something really special planned for the top of this piece. Something I've never tried before. Hopefully it works and it's not one of those cases of "oooooh, I can do that" and then when I do it it's like "that was a stupid idea."
We shall see.
In the meantime, this one's asking for supper.
