Favorite Project of 2011

Kim from Savvy Southern Style had such a great idea for her Wow Us Wednesday linky party this week.  With so much going on, she suggested we link up our favorite project of this year.   I had a few I really enjoyed doing, but I have to say I think my rescued curbside dresser was my very favorite.

Here is the original post where I did the reveal of the finished dresser:

Monday, June 27, 2011

Finally! The Dresser Is Done!

Finally! You’d think I was doing a whole suite of furniture for the time it took me to get this little dresser done. I posted about how I found it on the side of the road here and this is what it looked like.

It was missing two of its three drawers, but I knew I could put wood there and use baskets. Since I ordered a quart of the legendary chalk paint for my headboard, I thought I would use it on this piece, too. Anything to not have to sand or prime!

My hubby made me two shelves out of some luan that we already had in our garage for the drawerless areas. We also had this decorative trim left over from our master bathroom redo.

I painted the whole thing in Annie Sloan’s Old White chalk paint, then rubbed on the Clear Wax. {Edited to answer a comment: All products used are from the Annie Sloan line}.

You recall I asked for your help on what color to paint the baskets for the two shelves. I wanted to make a choice between gray or black. Thank you so much for your input on that! I wound up not going with either of those choices!

The baskets got sprayed with Oil Rubbed Bronze; for two reasons. First, I had it already and B. because I thought the brown would look good considering the dark wax is, basically, brown and the script writing on the scrapbook paper I used was brown.

I added tags to the baskets using shipping tags covered in a script scrapbook paper and numbers I got from The Graphics Fairy. I tied them on to the baskets using two colors of seam binding.

I was disliking the way the floral bit looked on the one and only drawer ~ even painted over. Not quite the look I’m going for.

So I got some script and music scrapbook paper to see which I liked better.

I liked the middle one best. The background color went very well with the Old White chalk paint and the script was very soft. The first one pictured to the left I used on the tags.

I cut it to size and Mod Podged it onto the front of the drawer. The 12x12 sheet allowed me to get the two pieces I needed. The picture below is pre-wax.

I also needed knobs because there were none on the drawer when I got the dresser. I realized that I already had a couple of round wood knobs that I could use. I dipped them in the chalk paint and stuck them upside down into styrofoam cups to dry {I put the screw in them when I did this}.

I added the dark wax to the whole piece {except for the shelf areas since the baskets will be on them anyway}, but got a little heavy handed I think and had to go back in with the clear wax to lighten it up again. Like magic that clear wax is! I couldn’t believe how it lightened up the dark wax and I finally got it to where I liked the look.

Finally, here she is in place in my entry foyer! This will be her home for now. Although, I do like the idea that because of the color, I could put this piece anywhere. I love it! I have some future posts planned featuring this piece.

By the time I got someone to help me bring it in from the garage on Sunday, it had gotten cloudy. If I can get a few better pictures in the morning before I leave for work, I will replace these, as they really don’t do it any justice.

I decorated the top with stuff I already had. The lamp I recently bought at TJ Maxx {$19.99} specifically for this chest. The books and tray are in my etsy; the floral I’ve had for several years and is from Home Goods.

EDITED: Some day time shots from this morning.

Now just a little bit about the paint and my take on it. I would be a bit more careful when applying the dark wax although you can fix any area that looks too dark by reapplying clear wax. The paint covered wonderfully and this piece is made up of plastic legs, MDF and a little bit of real wood. Very high quality stuff here. So it worked on three different surfaces beautifully. I applied the paint with a good paint brush and applied the wax with rags.

Is it worth the $34.95 a quart, plus additional for the waxes? Well, depending on how much I can get out of this can will determine whether I would buy it again. I applied two coats to this dresser and still have 3/4 of a can of paint left. The major plus was no sanding or priming and if you had to get primer and paint, you might be pretty close to that price anyway.

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This dresser really works in well in our new place, too.  Not only fitting in perfectly, but giving me a little more storage, since we did downsize.

Yes, I’d have to say that, even though this project took me the longest to finish, it is my favorite for 2011.  

Also linking up with

What’s It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants

Kathy