Purple.
“Um, negative,” were the exact words I told her when I heard she wanted a purple dresser. And I didn’t say it because I thought it was wacky to paint a dresser purple, I mean, I’m the same woman that painted our dining chairs teal (the picture below doesn't really capture their true color).
It’s just that I simply could see her growing out of the PURPLE PHASE! Which meant we’d need to repaint it years down the road, and that’s not something I wanted to do. So I made a command decision and decided to paint it white and let her pick out the hardware.
I painted the dresser and we were happy with the result.
Don't judge me - that photo was taken right after we moved in, hence the boxes and chaos and photos leaning against the wall.
But now, a year and a half after our initial purchase of the dresser I’ve decided to…drumroll…repaint her dresser - the exact thing I was trying to avoid.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the look of crisp, clean white. But against the white walls (which I could paint but don’t really want to since we are renting and I have no clue when we’ll be moving) it just, well, disappears. So Ari and I came up with a happy medium; I wanted the dresser to be able to work even when we move to a house where I do decide to paint her walls and I also wanted the look to be one that she would enjoy for years, while all she cared about was some color! So we decided to leave the base of the dresser white and paint the drawers with a bright, bold color.
The colors of her room are magenta, teal and bright yellow. And since yellow is reserved for her accents such as her lamp base, pillows and other accessories, I decided against it on the dresser. Besides, I have my eye on this killer rug (you can soooomewhat see it in the pic below) so when I eventually make the plunge and buy the rug it would just be too, too much yellow in the room if we went with yellow drawers.
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So that left teal and magenta. She wanted magenta and I, too, was favoring magenta since 1. When we eventually move I plan to paint her walls a cool color (think light bluish-gray) so the warm magenta will be more asthetically pleasing against the contrasting cool wall tone and 2. I love that it’s so damn bright and cheery and it will totally pop against the drab white walls we’re currently too lazy to paint stuck with.
I'm sure you noticed in the first photo of her dresser I taped a few paint chips to it. I did that because I was torn between three colors (the darkest one on each chip) and wanted to see what they looked like throughout the day (from the sun beaming through the window in the early morning, to noon and in the evening). I learned to do this after I painted Ari's walls yellow in one of our old houses and they turned out beautifully, except for a few hours everyday, midday when the sun made it look as though Big Bird threw up all over the walls. Lesson learned.
So after a few months of procrastinating (I was scurred to make a decision), I went with the darkest color on the middle paint chip, although the picture (like the one of our dining chairs) doesn't quite capture its true color.
I'm sure you noticed in the first photo of her dresser I taped a few paint chips to it. I did that because I was torn between three colors (the darkest one on each chip) and wanted to see what they looked like throughout the day (from the sun beaming through the window in the early morning, to noon and in the evening). I learned to do this after I painted Ari's walls yellow in one of our old houses and they turned out beautifully, except for a few hours everyday, midday when the sun made it look as though Big Bird threw up all over the walls. Lesson learned.
So after a few months of procrastinating (I was scurred to make a decision), I went with the darkest color on the middle paint chip, although the picture (like the one of our dining chairs) doesn't quite capture its true color.
So I broke out the dreaded sander and got to work.
A few coats of Berrylicious by Valspar, followed by several coats of acrylic to seal the finish and make the surface wipeable and I had myself some seriously pink dresser drawers.
When we bought the dresser it was obvious it had seen better days. If you look, a small piece of the trim is missing (which I've yet to replace) and the finish looked worn. But those two things didn’t deter me from buying it because first and foremost it’s solid wood, which is hard to find these days. Most pieces I found at furniture stores had a significant amount of laminate or particle board on them so I figured I’d look at flea markets and on craigslist for an old school dresser that was quality made, since they just don’t make ‘em like they used to. And at $50 asking price, which the hubby talked down to $45 (hey, every little bit counts), we were sold. I figured we’d just go to Lowes and get some paint or stain and fix 'er up. And that's exactly what we did.
So do you wanna see the whole thing?
Boom! Snazzy, eh? Again, ignore the missing trim, I put that on Seth's honey-do list. And ignore the mess on top of the dresser, her room is a work in progress.
So there you have it folks. My baby girl has herself a very, merry berrylicious dresser. And it looks mighty sassy (kinda like her), if I do say so myself.
On a roll,
Lor
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