I was having coffee with an old friend not long ago. She mentioned she was going to be cleaning out her garage and my "DIY" and "re-purpose" trained ears perked up! When she said that two chest of drawers may be available, I cheered with glee! I love turning old pieces of furniture into new treasures. This was an opportunity I couldn't resist, so, I offered to take them off her hands. She agreed and now I'm the owner of two more pieces of furniture. Oh, did I mention that we're downsizing next year after my youngest finishes high school. Well, we are, but I keep acquiring more furniture. My husband is having nightmares about our move. So.much.furniture!!
Anyway, I posted a before and after of one of the pieces above. It had great bones and only needed a face lift. It has found its new home in my dining room/craft room/studio. The drawers are so roomy. I have all of my shipping supplies for my Etsy shop and additional paints and canvases waiting to be transformed into new creations. I love how much storage this one piece has while having a very small footprint in the room.
I used the same recipe for chalk-style paint that I've used in earlier projects. You can see one of those here. It's the post of a transformation an old dining room table and chairs received when I changed our dining room into my craft room. You can see the supplies in the picture below. The paint I used was a cast off from the Home Depot paint department. I frequently visit Home Depot to check their culled lumber bin and paint that has been marked down due mixing errors or customers changing their minds. Some times the prices are as low as 50 cents! What a bargain! Behr paint is my favorite, by the way.
The great thing about chalk-style paint is that you don't have to prime or sand the pieces before painting. You do need to be prepared to use a finishing wax after painting, but I love that step. It's very exciting to see the furniture take on a new look. Below you can see what the drawers looked like before being painted. I love how the black paint actually brings out the character of the drawers and the overall piece. It gives it such an updated, yet classic look. I was going to repaint the hardware as well, but after I finished painting the drawers, I decided the old hardware just needed a good scrubbing. It looks great in its original finish. I did remove the ornamental plates behind some of the pulls. You can see it below. It's the three-petaled fixture behind the pull. I'll save them to use in another project down the road.
Here's one more look at the finished product. I love, love, love it!
As for the second chest of drawers.....it simply moved from one garage to another. But it has a place of high importance in my garage. It contains all of my finished boards and planks I use to make creations for the Hartley Rowe Etsy shop. It was the perfect piece to get my garage workshop organized.
Boy, do I have a great friend or what? Next trip to Starbucks is on me!
I'd love to hear about your before's and after's using either Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint, or a homemade recipe. Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint is the best, but for projects that are staying here at home, I usually save a bit of money and use the homemade recipe.
Thank you all for stopping by.
~ Alison
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