Dresser transformation

  The boys were in need of a new dresser and Craigslist came to the rescue.  I found some beautiful oak dressers, that were very well made pieces of furniture.  I was interested in the long dresser, but being the good/pushy sales person that the owner was we ended up taking both the long dresser and the tall dresser home. I just love these Craigslist finds.

 

    This tall dresser will be for Ava when she is out of diapers and we are done with the changing table/dresser combo.    The long dresser looks exactly like this, but long.  Before buying them and even contacting the owner, however, I told Mike that we'd have to paint.  This is varnished wood and so the obvious answer was that there was NO way we were going to paint these.

 

    Enter Annie Sloan paint, my life saver and current OBSESSION.  I had heard of this paint before, but when I actually researched it, it is the paint dreams are made of.  You can basically paint it over ANYTHING.  Including varnished oak.  So, we went for the dressers knowing that I would also buy some Annie Sloan paint.  If you have never heard of it, or need to paint something, but don't want to sand or prep what you are painting, this is the paint to buy.  And with the gorgeous colors offered, and the many techniques and ideas you can implement, we will definitely be investing in more paint for future furniture transformations.  That is the one drawback... it is an investment and it is expensive, but so worth it in my book.

 

  We spent nap time on sunday painting the long dresser, we didn't even stop to take a pre-picture.  The cool thing about the paint is that it only takes 20 minutes to dry.  After the 20 minute drying period you apply a wax that allows the paint to set.  It is low VOC, so it doesn't smell either.

  We were kind of going for the distressed look, so we didn't do a second coat of paint.  If you search for painting techniques with Annie Sloan paint or check out her blog, you can see the many possibilities of what you can do and it is all stunning.  She is a color enthusiast and when I was looking at her blog I was so inspired by her use of color combos and her love of color.  I am not afraid of color, but sometimes that results in hodge podge.  It was so fun to see her color inspirations, that actually work.  :)  Somewhere on the blog she mentioned that artists need to feed themselves so that they can be re-inspired.  I read that right after we had been at the winery in Saratoga and realized that seeing those beautiful places really feed me as an artist.  Visiting new places and seeing new sights invigorate me in a very raw and real way.  If I am ever feeling blah, I know just what to do!

 

  We are super stoked about the transformation of the long dresser and will be doing the tall one eventually.  In the meantime, we are trying to figure out what else we can paint because it was so easy and the results were so dramatic.  I have something in mind, I just have to get the husband to jump on board.

Have a great day!