Dresser Redux

It's finally blog-thirty again! I've been so, so, so busy the last few months but haven't documented a whole lot. I knew this project would be worth snapping some before and afters, though! Baby boy is due to make his appearance sometime this month and I'm kicking into high gear to finish up the nursery. One major missing piece was a dresser for all those adorable onesies. Down in the garage we had one of Mr. B's old chest of drawers collecting dust. It was well-made but outdated and I wasn't sure if we'd ever do anything with it. 

After getting the glider and crib and leaving the daybed in place for extra guests, the nursery was starting to fill up. I knew a six drawer dresser was probably not going to work but then I remembered the chest! I'm styling the nursery in a vintage cowboy/southwest/Indian vibe and had seen a cool painted piece on Instagram that sparked an idea for a dresser redux.

I searched Etsy and Ebay for the right stencil, and finally found one I liked, a simple and somewhat masculine Indian design. Then, I needed to decide on paint and the color. I landed on Renaissance chalk paint in Old Linen. I had never used chalk paint before but I'm totally sold now. No priming, no sanding and the coverage is awesome! The only extra step is to do a finishing paste after you paint to seal it. It's a little tedious but waaaaay better than sanding and priming!!! For that, I used Minwax Finishing Wax Paste.

I started by painting the body of the dresser and leaving the drawers as is. I still hadn't made up my mind on how I was going to paint them, if I would use the same color as the body of the dresser and stencil on another color or if I should just stencil the Old Linen color right on the original finish. Since I could paint over the stencil if I didn't like the results, I went that route first.  I also distressed the body of the dresser slightly so some of the original color peeked through and tied in with the drawer fronts.

I knew after the first drawer that I liked the look of the stencil on the original finish and lucky for me, that was the easiest option, too!  The top drawer was a bit smaller than the others so I used the second pattern on the stencil for it. To finish the new look, I found some cool drawer handles at Lowe's that had just a touch of rustic, western flair.

This project turned out so much better than I expected and I am IN LOVE with the results. I am seriously jealous of my son's furniture and it's definitely a piece that can grow with him.

I can't wait to show off some of the other details from Baby Eddie's nursery and more importantly, to MEET HIM and introduce him to everyone. It's hard to believe in a few short weeks I'll be a mommy to TWO beautiful babes and be emerged in the whirlwind of the newborn world, only this time I'll be chasing a two year old around, too!!!

XOXO,

Mrs. B