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As we begin the new year it is important to focus on the fact that every day is a NEW day and we get to try life all over again. I have always wanted to repurpose an old piece of furniture. I have a friend who is cleaning out a building he owns so I picked up this nice old oak dresser. He had tongue and groove drawers, of which are all in good condition.

Sometimes it is really hard to see past the exterior of things to see what they could potentially be. We as people are no different, we have dings and scars and sometimes our exterior doesn’t always match the interior or out heart and soul. None the less, we are all still priceless. I suppose that is why I love “old things” and I love to breathe new life into them.

My awesome son went with me early on New Years Eve in the rain and snow to pick this up and drop it back off at the house in the garage. He had some other plans and Ben is flying, so I decided to head to the grocery store, pick up what I needed there and ran over to home depot. I decided on chalk paint. I didn’t want a gloss paint look on an old piece of furniture and I was fine if it doesn’t look even or perfect.

I settled on the white chalked paint for the first two coats then this deep blue, not navy, not royal blue. It looked so classy to me. I will add, I have only ever used acrylic paint to stencil, so I was working on a wing and a prayer here! I had no idea if this would even work. I grabbed an old plastic lid to a container I can no longer locate (please don’t tell me all of your Tupperware is mated…….really?

I used a spray adhesive pictured above to make sure the stencil stayed flat. I couldn’t lay this piece on it’s back to paint it because the drawers became to recessed, so I really had to continue to push the drawers from underneath to keep them even with the sections in between. It was quite the task to get the front done and flat!

You can see in the second picture how uneven the stencil was in the wood section between the drawers. I was careful not to push the drawer in, but pulled out a much smaller stencil brush and went back over these areas. Alas, I was finally done with the front!

It’s kinda funny, I decided I didn’t like the knobs that were on it. They were just plain round oak knobs painted a hideous shade of green! I looked at Home Depot and wanted to try and find something that looked old. I have glass knobs on my kitchen cabinets that are amber colored glass. The look old, so I was on the hunt for some that were a cobalt blue color. No luck, but after thinking about it, I didn’t want anything that would take away from the pattern itself, so I decided on clear glass knobs. Sad to say I paid more for 8 knobs than I did for the dresser itself. But I think they are classy, so all is good.

Next I loved on to stenciling the sides of the dresser with a portion of the stencil. Again, adding adhesive spray and some tape and something to help me hold it flat while I worked. You will see it is not perfect and yes, I worked in my jammies in the garage, but regardless, I think it still turned out ok.

I finished both side and took a step back. I love the final product. It is night and day from the previous version!

Well, for now, until I have a chance to let it dry and touch up any where that I need to, it is as done as it is going to get! I had a friend remind me it would be nice to line the drawers with blue willow paper. I have to have blue willow wallpaper around this house somewhere so that may be phase 2! If I get it sealed and in place, I will let you know!

So, good bye 2020, hello 2021. Let focus on letting go of the old and receiving new.

Happy Willowing

Christine