by Chickens Chalkboards // September 14, 2015When at out apartment Danny and I had three dressers, but when we moved we found our bedroom was too small for any of them and since we have a walk-in closet we could kind of go without. However, the two additional bedrooms in our home don't have closets, so knowing we were going to eventually need those dressers down the line they have sat neglected, waiting to be cleaned out and refinished. I decided to give the baby Danny's old dresser because the size was nice, my old one has an annoying drawer that sticks, and I hated the finish on his so I felt I wouldn't ruin it. It had been in the garage being used as a kitty climber by the cats for the past year and definitely needed some help. The dresser was already a navy blue, but it looked as if it only had one or two coats of cheap paint. The color was thin, uneven, and the dresser itself still had that rough unfinished wood feel. Since I was using a lot of navy in the nursery I decided to try using the dresser to my advantage and milk paint over the blue, hoping the paint would chip a bit, revealing the navy underneath in spots. I was a bit worried the paint would stick and not chip, since the dresser had no finish, so I took the time to rub beeswax where I knew I wanted it to chip, focusing on the edges, around the knobs and spots on the top and bottom where it would make sense to see wear and tear. I then covered it in several coats of Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint in Linen, really trying hard to make sure I applied it smoothly without bubbles, crumbles, or unevenness in the color. When using the paint I have come to learn that I cannot seem to be able to use the very last part in the bottom because the color is always a bit yellower. I try to keep stirring it, but after having to repaint the top two drawers due to a coloration difference, I find it is easier for me to just throw out the last little bit. (Also not painting at night would have probably helped me catch the color difference sooner). Once the paint dried I finely sanded everything to get a smooth finish and remove any small bubbles or crumbs and then began to try to get it to chip. Thank goodness I decided to use the wax, because I had to sand it just as hard to get down to the blue paint as I did to get to the bare wood on the highchair. Although I put the wax in various spots, the only place I could sand down to the blue was the edges. Had I not used the wax I probably would have gone straight down to the wood. The paint stuck even better than I expected, refusing to come off in any other spots, but I did get a bit of a crackle look when you see it up close. The final step to the project was using pictures from the book Blueberries for Sal to help tie the dresser in to our nursery theme. I disassembled a 1 cent book I purchased on amazon and began trying to piece the pictures on without it looking like a hodgepodge mess. I knew the look I wanted but Im limited with my ability to visualize things and was really was struggling getting it. Thankfully my mom can picture just about anything and everything and helped tie my favorite pictures in using the landscape pages so it had a nice flow. What I couldnt figure out with several days work, she got it all figured out in about an hour and it looked great. Once I got the look I liked I cut out the illustrations and used Mod Podge to attach them to the drawers. Ive always struggled with getting that nice, smooth, bubble-free, wrinkle-free look when using Mod Podge and after several frustrating attempts to remove the bubbles and get a smooth finish, I found nothing worked better than a credit card. Once the pieces were glued down I gave each drawer 3-4 top coats to seal it so the pictures now have a nice glossy protective coat from the wear and tear of a baby. For now I attached the same knobs, although I still cant find two because I hid them from Otis who kept stealing them, but I think I would rather have them navy so they blend in, drawing the eye more to the illustrations. Once I find the final two Ill eventually get to painting them, but for now it still looks cute and is functional. Even with the brown knobs, I love how it turned out. It is perfect for the nursery and I never could find anything like it in a store.
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