I’ve unleashed my inner Martha Stewart!
I’ve had this ugly, black and white painted
wooden chest of drawers for a few years now. It was a cheap Craigslist find so Zach and I hauled it home from this lady's house,
hanging out the trunk of our Honda Civic.
We just wanted something for our guest bedroom and never thought much
about it. Well, when we moved to
England we put our bedroom set in storage and this humble little chest of
drawers became one of my main bedroom pieces. I still never thought much of it… until recently. I was inspired by my friend Calli’s
creativity in bringing new life out of worn out pieces of furniture by painting
them. Light bulb moment: I can
paint my wee little chest of drawers!
Give it a make-over!
Unleash Martha Stewart on it!
A ha! … but how to do
it? That’s when I asked Calli for
help. I knew she’d be excited
about it so I was tickled pink when she offered her help and her handy
sandblaster!
I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do
with the chest of drawers; just that I knew it desperately needed some
color. I kept thinking in the back
of my mind what colors would look good, and of course I needed some nice new
drawer knobs. I know our area
isn’t known for its craft shops (oh Michaels, how I miss thee!) so I considered
buying some snazzy drawer knobs online.
I was hesitant though, because this just seemed like something better
bought in person.
Fast forward about a week, and Zach and I
are in Normandy. We decided to
spend one afternoon in the nice harbor village of Honfleur. We were just wandering the streets
taking in all the sights when we came across a tiny shop filled with drawer
knobs, door knobs, drawer pulls!
Wow! I was instantly drawn
in. As I pondered over the array
of colors, designs and sizes of the knobs I cast my eyes on some beautiful rose
shaped knobs, and instantly was drawn to them. Oh, but which colors?
Blue, orange, pink, white or red?
In an instant, my vision of how I wanted my chest of drawers came to
life! I decided on a few pink rose
knobs with two white ones as well.
It was quite entertaining to try to communicate with the man in the
store, as he knew about as much English as I knew French, which, if you know
me, isn’t much more than Bonjour and Merci beaucoup! But I walked out of the store giddy with my purchase and
the idea that came to life before my very eyes.
I couldn’t wait to get started on this
project so one day shortly after we returned from Normandy Calli came over and
we sandblasted and primed the chest of drawers. To be on the safe side I ended up doing two coats of primer,
and then two coats of the color. I
was so giddy upon seeing the citrusy green color bringing my chest of drawers
to life! It was so easy to do, and
as soon as it was dry I put the knobs on and it was brought together exactly
how I envisioned it. It’s amazing
when you can envision something and have it actually come out how you planned!
(Instead of a horrible mess that you leave in a dark corner to collect dust…) I then took a piece of sandpaper and
sanded the corners and edges a bit to give it that shabby chic look. Beautiful!
say goodbye to the black and white!
I say, we did a pretty good job sanding, considering it's such a tedious and messy job
We could’ve just left it like this for an
extremely shabby chic look…but somewhere you cross the line between shabby chic
and ass-ugly.
One coat of primer done -just need one more coat to be safe
First coat of color! Love it!
Completely transformed!
Sanded it down a bit to give it the shabby chic look.
Aren't they the prettiest?
I also decided to get creative with the
décor on the chest of drawers.
I saved a few bottles aside (one was a wine bottle we got in Cyprus and
two more from the thrift shop). I
painted the wine bottle white, using the primer paint, so it dried with a nice
matte effect. Then I tied a ribbon
around the neck and voila! Instant
decoration! (thanks to a craft book had been collecting dust on my bookshelf
for a while). I decoupaged the
other two bottles with bright pink and blue paper. Oh, and then, there’s the sheep… because, well, I like
sheep!
Happy chest of drawers sitting back where it belongs
This could get addicting! I need to get thee to a yard sale or
thrift shop or auction to find a hunk of junk in need of a make over!
