Pretty Paisley

I went looking for a new dresser to makeover and I hit all my local thrift stores. No luck at the first and second one but at the third store I spotted this dresser and quickly checked it out. A little too quickly. I wanted to get a sold sticker on it so no one else would try to snap it up. I should have taken a closer look but I was looking for anything to take home at that point.



It's an okay dresser, but not great. The top and drawer fronts are pine (a very soft wood) so they are kinda banged up. I thought the drawers were wood at first look but they are actually MDF with a pretty convincing woodgrain-looking paper on it. Boo. Even though the dresser was only $3.50 (yep, you read that right, only 3.50!) I felt like I should have passed on it.

I got it home and tried to rough it up with some sandpaper but it seemed the stain on it was too thick. It didn't work very well. Although the dresser has some problems, the drawers do slide smoothly and it's clean, so I went ahead with the paint job.





I still had paint leftover from the can I bought for a previous dresser so I used that. I also had more of those wooden oversized knobs that I bought at the Re-Store (aka my favorite store) for $0.25/knob.

Since I had already done two dressers with pink accents I thought I would change it up and do one with blue. I went to Michaels and picked up some Robin's Egg Blue acrylic paint and a paisley stencil.



I tried using a sponge brush with the stencil on a practice piece of wood but it didn't have a crisp enough outline for me. So instead I used a light blue pencil crayon and traced the stencil in the corner. I then used a tiny little brush and painted in the stencil with the blue acrylic paint. It was pretty tedious but only took an hour and half while I watched some tv. Not too bad.




I like this dresser but I don't love it. I'm having a hard time pricing it (so far I've sold all the dressers) because it's not solid wood. It's cuter than anything you can buy at Walmart (not that I'm biased or anything) which is all MDF but this dresser is not new. I guess I'll just have to pick a price and go with it and see what happens!

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9 comments:

  1. oh it turned out so sweet! i hate when i act too fast and regret it later, but that's part of thrifting. usually you have to act fast or the item's gone. looks like you really saved it though! it looks perfect.

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  2. Oh that is really cute! I wouldn't worry about the fact that it isn't solid wood...because it is really adorable! I have never really thought about stenciling over the knobs, but it came out darling. Really nice job!

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  3. Hey...for $3.50 that is a great deal!!! I wish we had those kinda prices at our thrift stores. I'm sure you will make a good profit on it. Love it!!!

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  4. Thanks for stopping by my blog!! I really appreciate it. :) I am now your newest follower - I think you have some great ideas and I always want to support a fellow Canadian!! ;)

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  5. Gorgeous dresser! And thanks for commenting on my blog earlier today. You mentioned that you would like to learn how to reupholster the right way. Have you tried many reupholstering projects?

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  6. Hi Cathy, I am your newest follower.
    Your dresser is absolutely beautiful:)))
    Greetings from Europe, hugs Biljana

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  7. Love it! I think I may just try this myself! You can't go wrong with $3.50!

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  8. I love the paisley stencil. I'm trying to think of a fun way to jazz up a piece I'm doing now and I think I may have to steal this idea :) Very cool!

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