Goodbye Ugly Dresser, Hello Cuteness!

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Everyone, meet ugly dresser. Ugly dresser, everyone.

It pains me to put this ugly thing on here. I've never been a fan of it since my husband picked it up. He got it when we first moved in together, and I guess I was too cheap to buy a different one, so I just sucked it up and dealt with this thing. Why I didn't think of painting it until now, I'll never know!

Well, now that that introduction is over, lets move on to the fun stuff!

I've been trying to find my style, what I REALLY like and it has been hard. Finally, I found it! I'm definitely a rustic/French country kind of girl (I would also LOVE to live on a farm, but... I need someone to take care of the farm for me ;) ) Anyway, I've been doing lots of pinning on Pintrest and discovered chalk paint. This stuff is pretty awesome! It's really pretty awesome that no prep is needed other than just cleaning the surface you are going to paint (yay for no sanding needed!) The first brand I found was REALLY expensive for a test run, so I searched around to find something more affordable in the event that I royally screw this up! Americana Decor makes chalk paint that is really pretty affordable, especially in the event you mess it up! Check it out here. They also sell special brushes, but I ordered one from Amazon, you can find that here. You'll also need to get the wax, which will be your top coat, it comes in clear but also other colors.

I ordered a few colors. I have an old coffee table that I want to turn into a bench, so that was my first test. I learned a lot with that test. It's really important that you follow the instructions and paint THIN layers of paint. Thick layers will result in the paint cracking as it dries. While that also goes with the rustic look, that was NOT something I was going for. Lesson learned. When it came time for the dresser I took my time and made sure the coats were nice and thin.

The first coat covered pretty well, but needed a second coat for sure. It's also important that you make sure it is COMPLETELY dry in between coats, or you'll also end up with the paint cracking.

I added the second coat, I had a little bit of cracking on one of the drawers, but not too bad. After the second layer was dry I sanded the edges and distressed it a little. As cute as it was without that, distressing it some made it EVEN BETTER! Plus, that's just my style :) In some of my research it sound like it was better to distress before the wax layer because the wax layer will help protect everything once you put it on. Made sense to me!

After the second coat was dry I applied the wax coat. It's kind of hard to see as you put it on so I used the reflection of the light to make sure I covered it the best I could.

Now... wait for it... The finished piece!

See, doesn't that distressing make it look SO. MUCH. BETTER?!

I hope you all enjoyed! I'm still researching away on the bathroom remodel, and chalk paint is a definite contender. Now, I just need to find time to do it. Ha, I have a feeling that will be a summer project, but as always, I will let you all know so you can follow that FUN!

The Chaotically Creative Mom
-Kate