Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Napoleonic Blue Chalk Painted Dresser


So I took an unexpected hiatus, but for great reasons.. Two pretty awesome things have been occupying a lot of my time lately. I am happy to say that I have an exciting new job and a new puppy! Please meet the newest member of our household, Hercules:


Seriously? Look at that face! And good thing he's adorable because that first month of training was rough! We have a sock thief in the house.

Needless to say, a lot of my DIY projects were put on hold, but I'm happy to be back at it. All of a sudden I am completely motivated and inspired - it's a great place to be!

Over the summer, my friend Emily had posted a ton of photos of her furniture makeovers using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. Inspired by Emily, and Pinterest, I decided to join the chalk paint movement on a dresser that we garbage picked from our neighbors.*

*We waited for our neighbors to leave before moving in on the dresser all stealth-like. Geoff and I were both too embarrassed to pick it up while our neighbors were home!

The dresser was pretty beat up. The varnish was chipped and peeling. There were large scratches everywhere, but I loved the shape and figured it would be a great piece for my first attempt at chalk painting.

I chose Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Napoleonic Blue for the color. I had been admiring deep, blue dressers with brass hardware for quite some time and wanted one of my own. 

I bought a quart of paint at a local retailer. The paint is pretty expensive, but a little goes a long way. Luckily, Emily let me borrow her can of Clear, Soft Wax instead of having to buy that too. There's also a Dark Wax that is made for an antiquing affect. I just used the Clear Wax for this project.

I looked up a few tutorials online and texted Emily for guidance. For the most part I painted the same way I do with other paints. 

What I do love about using chalk paint is the amount of prep time you save. All I had to do was remove the hardware and clean the dresser. No sanding, no priming, the paint dries quickly, and no strong paint fumes. Plus it really covered all of the dresser's major imperfections.

The color was a bit bold before it dried. I referred to it as "Grover Blue." Here is the dresser with one coat of paint:

See. It's a bit Grover-esque..

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Grover's_Mommy
I looked for any excuse to post this amazing Grover photo. You're welcome.

Back to the dresser - Emily assured me that it would dry quickly and a few shades darker. 

It would also need another coat of paint.


I decided that I wanted a few areas of the dresser to be a bit "roughed up." I used sand paper to expose the wood in strategic areas. The picture below also shows the paint color a day later. It's definitely a darker, matte finish before applying the wax.

I used a sock to apply the wax and thought I would have to buff with it too, but Geoff surprised me with a Ryobi buffer! This man loves any reason to buy a new tool.

Here's what the color looks like after applying the Soft Wax and buffing:

Oh so pretty!

I really loved the original hardware, but unfortunately I was unable to salvage it. Most of the handles were broken. :(  I did a few online searches and settled on these brass handle pulls by Liberty (Amazon here).

The dresser is now in its temporary home in the dining room where it can double as a buffet/bar. Here's the finished piece - yay:





My favorite part about using this paint was the fact that this dresser only took me two days to paint and wax. I am so happy with my new dresser/buffet/bar!

For more inspiration, be sure to check out my friend Emily's Facebook page, Bohemian Treasures. Here's just one of her beautiful pieces:

I party with Remodelaholic


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