Chalk This Up to Pretty

Yam has been in her own apartment since November 11, 2013. As you know, The Colonel and I have made her old room into a guest room now. I was going through her old closet (which still has some of her things in it) and decided I wanted to reuse the chest of drawers that was in there.

First, I would have to empty it of some of Yam's old clothes and then get it out of the closet. The chest of drawers is made by Cargo Furniture. I had forgotten how heavy that furniture is! I had not moved that chest of drawers in 7 years.

Well, I got the chest emptied and out of the closet. I had to ask for The Colonel's assistance to get it downstairs and out to the garage where I would commence the painting.

I wanted to try my hand at painting with chalk paint. There is no messy stripping or sanding a piece of furniture before you use chalk paint. Perfect. So, I did some looking on line and found Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. It is a bit pricey. The Colonel's eyes got as big as saucers when he saw the price tag on the can's bottom.

I chose to paint the chest Duck Egg blue. I wanted the drawers to have a slight color graduation to them, so I also purchased some white chalk paint that I would add to the blue as needed, to achieve the look I wanted.

I began with a brush to get the areas my roller would not be able to. The Colonel really liked the color and so did I (he was beginning to see the wisdom of my "big ticket" purchase).

The piece of furniture would take two coats of paint.

I had to let the second coat of paint dry for a day before I applied the Annie Sloan Clear Wax. The wax would help to protect the painted surface.

Once the wax was applied, The Colonel and I manhandled the chest of drawers back into Yam's old room (but not back in the closet this time).

I did not want the old, wooden knobs back on the drawers. I had glass knobs in mind. I found some on ebay. 

They looked just as I imagined they would.

I liked working with chalk paint. I have a couple more pieces of furniture I would like to "makeover". I think I did see that The Home Depot sells chalk paint at a lower price than does Annie Sloan...that should make The Colonel's eyes less saucer-shaped when I have to buy more paint.

NOTE: I decided I wanted different glass knobs for the dresser. I ordered some reproduction Victorian Era glass knobs to replace the round ones. I like this look better (anyone need barely used glass knobs?).

The new knob is the one on the top.

Here is the dresser's new look with the new knobs.

Much better!