Hi friends!!
I had something different on the blog calendar for today, but my mind is in PAINT mode!! I have done more painting in the last year than I have ever done in my life!!!
We are having our kitchen cabinets painted starting today (woo hoo!!!), and I cannot wait for both sides of our kitchen to match!! I attempted painting the cabinets in December, but it was a bit more labor intensive than I anticipated! AND I only managed to finish one side…in a two week time frame. Robert and I went back and forth about getting the cabinets painted for the last few months, and we finally decided that the best option would be to have them professionally done!!! YAY!!! I’ll do a big kitchen reveal on the blog once it’s finished (and it’s getting there!!) …we made some big changes, y’all!
Last week I finished painting a new little dresser for our bedroom! (I told you…paint, paint, and more PAINT over here!) I’m so excited to share my dresser makeover experience with you today, because it was a relatively inexpensive project, and I love how it turned out!
I started with an ikea dresser (find it here)! The wood on this dresser was basically unfinished, so it was a blank canvas for the paint! Oh…by the way, it doesn’t come assembled. My sweet hubby did that part for me!
The 'before' pictures...although I almost forgot to take them!! Can you tell?! ;) That's something I definitely need to work on...I just get too excited about my DIY projects and dive right in!
Next I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint! This paint is pretty awesome…especially on furniture! My sweet friend, Bronwyn, introduced me to it several months ago after she had used it on several pieces of furniture!! This paint has a special formula that allows you to paint directly onto most surfaces without sanding or priming!! Annie Sloan also has special brushes for the chalk paint…you could probably use a regular paint brush, but I feel like these grab the paint better. The brushes come in 3 different sizes, I used both the small and medium brushes on this project. I actually don’t own a large brush, because it is just so big!! I like having the smaller brushes, because it makes doing the detail work (corners & edges) a bit easier! If you’re using this paint for the first time, you might be in sticker shock when you see the price for one of these cans. But let me tell you…I only used about 1/2 of a can (maybe even less) on this dresser, and I did THREE coats of paint!! A little bit of this paint goes a long way! This paint also comes in a bunch of different colors (and you can mix the paints to create new colors!) We thought white would go best in our bedroom, but for my next piece of furniture, I want to do a fun color!! We'll see how Robert feels about that, though! ;)
I painted the dresser over the course of a few days, but you don’t have to do it that way! The awesome thing about this paint is that it dries REALLY quickly! I would say you could definitely do two…maybe even 3 coats in a day. This paint goes on like any other paint…you want to make sure that your brush strokes are going the same direction. When it dries, it will have a chalky texture (hence the name) but you’ll wax it later on to get a nice, smooth finish!
To seal Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, you use a special wax. I have only ever refinished furniture in the traditional way (sand, paint, then polyurethane), so this was really different for me! The wax has the consistency of crisco. I scooped some out on a paper plate and used a rag to apply it. Here’s the video that I watched before applying the wax…she does a GREAT job demonstrating the process!
After that I waited about 2 hours and then put on drawer pulls! I got these at a local store called Black Dog Salvage…have you heard of it?! I’ve been going there ever since we moved to Roanoke, but the place has gotten really popular in the last couple of years because of the TV show Salvage Dawgs! It’s so neat to go into the store these days, because there are people visiting from all over the country!! I absolutely love all of the unique, beautiful things you can find at Black Dog...and the best part?! The black dog, named Sally, actually roams around the store! She's the sweetest! If you’re ever in Roanoke, I definitely suggest that you stop by this place!
Here are some photos of the finished product!
The drawer pulls from Black Dog are probably my favorite thing about this dresser! We got a rug this week, too, and I absolutely love how the blues compliment each other!! We are just a few steps away from having our bedroom completed…I can’t wait to share the before & after photos!!
As always, if you have questions or comments, please post them below or send me an email!! I'd love to chat!
Happy 'one day until Friday', friends!! ;) xo!