Maybe that's materialistic, but hey.
Many of my furniture pieces are things I coveted for a while before saving up the money for. Others are hand-me-downs that have been recovered, etc. Some were impulse buys from Home Goods (favorite store!). But putting the pieces together in my space makes me happy, and I enjoy seeing them fulfill their purpose.
Then there was my dresser... One of the last pieces of furniture I didn't have any ties to.
My dresser was an old, heavy wooden dresser painted stark white.
There's a story behind this dresser. We got it from our neighbors in South Carolina when they moved. It was my sister's dresser for years and years. In high school, she got new furniture and I stole it from her and we added new handles. I took it when I moved away from home. I've been hating it.
After looking at new dressers, I decided I couldn't afford one right now (choosing my new computer instead) and, tbh, I didn't really find any I liked.
Then Pinterest saved me.
First I took out all the clothes and piled them on my bed! Then I pulled the old dresser out and sanded it slightly, just to rough up the paint.
No drop cloths? No problem!
Take some garbage bags and cut them open, then tape them down.
I started with the drawers.
Hot pink, ftw!
So I tried the roller, but it was kinda bubbly, and I didn't want that texture. I went over it with a paint brush for the smooth look.
I continued to use the roller first, though, because one time just with the brush took foreverrrr.
I only painted the fronts. It's all I needed. This was after one coat of paint. I ended up doing two of pink.
Next was the main frame. I had to use the brush for the details. I know they don't show normally, but when you open the drawers you see it, and I wanted it to look nice.
While the paint was drying I played with my Cricut! I needed a stencil to get the design I wanted on the front. I measured the space on the drawers and used the upload photo feature to upload a border and made it the right size. I printed it out on cardstock.
Silver paint is GORGEOUS. Also, it smells like Sharpies. Beware.
I wanted to do the end first, then the straight lines, and the other end.
My first thought was to paint over the stencil. I thought I would get nice clean lines this way.
I was wrong. So wrong.
I painted over that mess. It took 3 coats to cover the silver.
Then I used the stencil to trace the design.
(this is a different drawer than pictured above! I was impatient)
I was so impatient, the stencil hadn't dried and got silver paint all over.
I was too lazy to fix it. This is my "freehand" painting on top of the penciled design.
It's not nice clean lines like I was hoping for, but I still liked it.
Overall, I think I did pretty ok.
Dried dresser frame, waiting for drawers.
Drying drawers.
Ok, so originally I was planning to put contact paper on the sides of the drawers, to match my bookshelves. But then I had a brilliant idea. I loved the silver paint so much, and there was way more than I needed just for the design, so I decided to paint the sides of the drawers too!
Then I got carried away and did the insides!
...it was worth it. They are glam!
I only used one coat of silver. Multiple reasons: I was getting bored of painting; it was super thick; it's inside anyway.
Ta-da!
Shiny drawers!
All I was missing was the drawer pulls.
I went to put them on today, after letting it dry overnight.
The screws they came with were super long.
So I tried two other kids of screws. Then went to the store for more screws. Their heads were too small, so I needed washers, and then they were too short.
Then I remembered my handy-dandy Dremel! I love my Dremel.
Daddy got it for me, because I kept stealing his for craft projects.
It's fab!
I had to Dremel down the area by the hole so my washers could fit in and make my screw long enough.
Fancy drawer pulls! (from an Etsy shop)
All done! So perty!
Total cost of painting stuffs: $50ish
Drawer pulls were $40ish.
New dressers usually run $300-$2000 (the ones I was looking at)
So overall, I'm totally satisfied!
Side by side before and after.
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