Hi All! I’ve got a real easy way to take an old piece of furniture and turn it into a custom statement piece in your home, on the cheap! Using items you can get from your local Lowes or Home Depot for under $25, you can transform an old dated piece of furniture into a unique, one-of-a-kind custom statement piece.
I have this beautiful bow front dresser that I found at a local flea market, actually, this piece found me. I happen to know the owner of this flea market, her son goes to school with my oldest daughter so we have seen each other at school functions for years, and I go in quite a bit because my Dixie Belle paint stockist has a booth located there. So, I was actually hunting a desk for a client and I just popped in to see if they had any, they didn’t. I bought some more paint instead and as I was getting ready to pay for it, the owner said that she had a dresser that I just had to have, she needed to get rid of it because she needed the space. She made me an offer I couldn’t refuse! I didn’t and I brought this baby home and put her in my garage to wait her turn.
I just love the lines of this dresser, the gentle bow on the top drawers and the straight lines at the bottom. I decided that I wanted to do a paint blending technique, I thought that the lighter colors would really pop with the curves. It takes me forever to pick paint colors out for my pieces and I finally decided to use Behr Paint Color Of The Year 2019: Blueprint. I love this blue! I love that it is blue, but has grey undertones to me. I picked another Behr Paint to be my highlight color, Watery. I thought they would work very well together.
The dresser was in really good shape and clean, but I still cleaned it inside and out with Dixie Belle White Lightning mixed with water. Your paint job is only going to be as good as your paint prep! I removed all the hardware, I store mine in a ziplock baggie to keep everything together. I cleaned it and then rinsed it to get all of the residue off, then I lightly sanded the body and drawers with 220 grit sandpaper, wipe all the dust off with a lightly damp rag or tack cloth. The top of this dresser has a plastic like coating over it, not going to be able to sand that. Normally, I would use a primer especially for slick surfaces, but it was 10 o’clock at night and I was out. You know when you have it in your mind to do something and nothing is going to stop you? That was me, I wanted the top primed before I went to bed so it would be dry in the morning. All I had was my Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer in the blue can. I put 2 coats of primer on and then I was ready to paint.
Well, almost, first I had to turn my latex paint into a chalky paint. Here’s how I did that.
See how easy it is to make your own “chalky” type paint? I have used this recipe for years and have never had issues with the durability of my DIY paint. I normally use Valspar or Behr brand paints and have had great success with both. Have you tried making your own chalky type paint? If you have, tell me how you made it and how it worked for you!
I did a base coat of my Blueprint on the body and drawers. I took the drawers out to paint this part. I haven’t done any videos on my projects in months, so I decided to video this one. A problem arose when I went to find my tripod that I use, I found a leg of it in my daughter’s bedroom. I was so mad, I don’t care that it was actually hers and I just borrowed it, I went to the store to get another one, and they didn’t have any. I hate having to stop what I’m doing, clean up and leave to go get something that I should have!! Do you know what I’m saying? So, I have no tripod and I didn’t feel like driving another 20 minutes to another store so I just thought I would rig something up and wing it! Here is the first video I did, it’s pretty short because my angle wasn’t very good.
If you have never done any Facebook Lives, they are very stressful to do. When you are trying to paint and tell people exactly what you are doing, what products you are using and not to put your butt in the camera all while trying to be natural, IT IS STRESSFUL–have pity on me!
It isn’t always easy to blend paints and make it look good. You have to have patience and remember that it is just paint and you can re-do it. Don’t rush and paint in sections. Make sure to keep your paint wet so it blends more easily. Sometimes, you need to stop and let it dry to see how it actually looks. After my paint had dried, I sanded everything done with a 330 grit sandpaper and then I sealed it with General Finishes High Performance Top Coat. I applied 3 coats to the top and 2 to the body and drawers, lightly sand between each coat. I cleaned the hardware with my White Lightning and after they were dry, I sprayed them with Rust-Oleum Metallic Spray Paint in Bright Gold.
Thanks for reading, and I hope that I have given you some good information that you can use to transform your own worn-down pieces into ones that are uniquely yours!
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Thanks again for taking your time and stopping by, I appreciate you!!
Until next time!
Andrea
Andreas Uniquely Yours 