My First Craigslist Dresser Re-Do

Ever since the Haven Conference, I have been itching to try Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I tried my hand at it with a small school desk but had my mind set on bigger and better things. Mainly a dresser for my son's room. So I set off to peruse good old Craigslist and after much searching and emailing/texting, I ended up with 2 dressers AND a dining room hutch. Let's just say I have a very supportive and understanding husband who made a late night trip down the road to pick up one dresser and then an after-work trip the very next day to pick up my other two finds. I think he was just happy that I had something other than obsessing about having another baby to occupy my time.

Anyway, a few days later Logan and I met him in Dallas and we went to Uptown Country Home to buy some chalk paint! ***oops, when linking to that I might have forgotten I was writing a post--they have some cute stuff online!*** Back to business now--I got a quart of Napoleonic Blue (for the dresser), a quart of French Linen (for my hutch), and a buffing cloth. Oh, and Logan picked out a $1 goodie bag with a wooden train, hair barrette, and a plastic dinosaur in it. Digging through the goodie bag cart kept him entertained while Chris and I discussed paint. I choked a bit when I paid $80 for two quarts of paint but from what I had heard, it went a LONG way (they were right). At least I didn't have to buy wax since Heather had won some AS dark wax at the conference and I still had alot of Minwax Paste Finishing Wax left from the school desk project. I couldn't wait to get home and get started and I needed to get started soon so I could maintain my momentum/excitement for the project because I know myself and I rarely finish projects that I start. That's why my hubby was shocked when I had this dresser done in a weekend.

So, without further ado, the pictures:

The original picture from the CL ad

We moved it into the dining room (super awesome thing about this paint--you can use it indoors with pretty much no noticeable odor), removed the hardware (ugly brass) and drawers and I got started. It probably took less than an hour to get the first coat on.

1st coat

Chris helped me with the 2nd coat and then I left it alone for the night so I could see what needed touching up in the daylight.

2nd coat (the next morning)

The next morning I could tell that I needed to do another coat. Now, most people using this paint wouldn't mind some of the missed spots, but I wanted a more modern look with little to no distressing since it was for a little boy's room and the original wood coloring was super light and I was trying to go super dark. So, 3 coats it was.

3rd coat with clear wax

After the 3rd coat, I let it dry and did the clear wax. My Minwax Finishing Wax seems to work just fine, it's just not near as soft as the AS stuff. Other tutorials I read mentioned Briwax, which I saw at Ace Hardware today, so I may try that next time. Upon the suggestion of a friend of mine who has been doing ALOT of AS painting lately, I waited to do the dark wax until the next day--she recommended at least 12 hours. It was hard to wait that long, I was so ready to see how it was going to turn out...but I was nervous about the dark wax. I didn't want it to look dirty or even antiqued. I just wanted it to darken the blue a little bit. So I researched that night to keep my mind off the dresser in the next room that was calling my name.

Pretty much everything I read agreed that you must do the clear wax first otherwise the dark wax will just stain the paint and won't be fixable without repainting. Also they said to put a little clear wax on your rag/brush (I used an old t-shirt, which I think wasn't quite lint-free as suggested...grrrr) and then dip into the dark wax lightly. It doesn't take much. Then you rub it in and then rub it off immediately with a clean rag/brush to get the excess off. So I worked on that this afternoon. It took a while. Well, that and I am a perfectionist and ended up repainting the top to make it smoother and then of course I found some other spots...stupid OCD. Then I probably should have waited another 12-24 hours before doing anything else but I just couldn't. I did another light coat of clear wax and let that dry. After it dried, I used the buffing cloth I bought (which is basically just a microfiber/terrycloth pad) to buff the wax. That got rid of some of the streaks I didn't love and shined it up just a bit. Then just to be sure it would be protected from a rambunctious 5 year old boy, I did a clear semi-gloss coat of Polycrylic over the whole thing. I don't know if that was necessary but it did give me the more glossy look I was going for so I am glad I did it. Looking back, I may have wasted my time doing the wax since you really can't tell the dark wax was even put on--partly because of the dark paint color and partly because I was afraid of using too much/making it look dirty/messing up. But it was good experience and it made me feel good to do the whole process.

While the polyurethane was drying I spray painted the old hardware with silver spray paint. I was going to get all new hardware, but once I spray painted it and put it on, it really looked good (and saved me $$$). I was barely able to wait for the polyurethane to dry before putting the new pretty hardware on.

The finished product!

In Logan's room--he is so excited to have a blue dresser (that he can open easily)!

Sorry for the poor picture quality, they were taken with my cell phone. At night. And I am not a professional photographer. Whatevs. You get what you get.

I can't wait to accessorize his room and get rid of his old chest of drawers and bookshelf that used to occupy this wall space. We are going to build him new bookshelves and I am envisioning cork board and metal baskets or display shelves above his dresser.

I can't wait to start on my hutch...or maybe I can, my arms are tired and I am exhausted. This work is tedious. My only saving grace was that it goes on really fast and I was able to do it indoors (not in the 100 degree Texas heat).

So, what do you think about my first official AS furniture re-do?? Have you used it? Do you plan to?

**Edited to add: After 3 coats of this paint, I still have over half a quart left. I watered it down on the 2nd and 3rd coats by dipping my paintbrush in water before the paint, but even if I didn't do that I would probably still have half left. It's amazing how far this goes. Now I need to find more things to paint blue...

I shared this at the Serenity Now Weekend Bloggy Reading Link Up Party!