Dresser Designs

As Andy is feverishly trying to finish mudding, taping and sanding the drywall so we can get to painting the walls, I am working on some of the furnishing in the room.  Our hope is to get E and F moved back into the room before baby #3 makes his appearance… which could really happen any day at this point.

Just baby bumping it while I blog at the kitchen table

A little sneak peak- the room currently looks like this.  

Admittedly, kind of a disaster but really exciting considering we started with this 2 1/2 years ago.

And have been living with this for 2 years.

Which looks a hell of a lot better than what we started with but considering the paneled walls could be easily pulled at the seams and there was little to no insulation in the walls, the room still needed some serious work.

Our original plan for the room was to do a built-in dresser and bookcase on the same wall as the door.  Right now, time/budget concerns have put this off so I came up with a plan to use the existing dresser in the room and add some pizzaz to it plus a custom bookcase built on top.  I am not skilled at coming up with ideas completely on my own so I hit the internet- mostly Pinterest to bring my idea to fruition.  I found two perfect pictures that sparked the lightbulb.

From the blog Life Outside the Box

From the blog Howdy Honey

Step one of the dresser redo is adding some pizzaz with a custom paint job.  This dresser is a hand-me-down antique dresser.  

It is still in great shape- very study and well built but has several scratches and worn areas after living a long and fruitful life.  

I have been experimenting in furniture painting after discovering an amazing store in Chatfield, Mn, Adourn.  I am not a large-item impulse shopper in general but it seems that every time I walk into the shop, I leave with an unexpected furniture piece such as my recent buy of F’s bed.  I went to a basic painting class a year ago at the store and was bitten by the furniture painting bug.

The color scheme of the kid’s room is inspired by a piece of fabric that I will be using as the background of two twin quilts I’m making for the kid’s beds.  

Out of the fabric, I chose a great spring green to paint the dresser with.  The color really complements the dresser’s stain and is pretty gender neutral (which is good since the room will be shared by our 4 year old daughter and 2 year old son).  The green is “Ryegrass” by Behr which I got a quart of satin in color-match Glidden paint + primer.

I started by sanding the top of the dresser with 100 grit sandpaper, sanding by hand in the direction of the grain of the wood.  

After wiping all the dust off, I taped the edge of the top lip with FrogTape.  

Painting with the grain in long stokes, I used an angle brush to paint the top of the dresser.  

One coat of paint

I kept my paint pretty thin knowing I would be using a few coats to prevent any drips.  Waiting for dry time in between coats, I painted the top with three light coats of paint.

In between coats of the top of the dresser, I worked on the drawers.  I wanted to create a chevron design on the top and bottom drawers.  First step was taking off the original hardware which you wouldn’t think would be challenging but after slitting my finger open on a piece of metal that sheared off the screw, I called in my expert to give me a tip.  Put the flathead screwdriver in the screw, tap it down a bit with a hammer and presto, screw will actually turn.

To create the chevron design, I used FrogTape to cover the areas of the drawer that would remain bare wood.  First, I measured the height of the drawer, divided it by two and drew a pencil line straight down the middle of the drawer (length-wise).  This line would be where my triangle points met.  Setting my first line was the hardest, but I used a triangle ruler from my quilting kit to determine my angle (60 degrees) and make sure it lined up with the center line I drew.  

I used a pencil to mark the two sides of the triangle.  Using 1.41” FrogTape, I followed my triangle lines to lay my first triangle.  At the peak of the triangle, I used a straight edge and box cutter to cut the tape into a peak (which lined up with my original center pencil line).  

Cutting excess to get a crisp peak

Now that my first triangle was set, I placed a piece of FrogTape on my clear straight edge to use as my measuring device for the rest of the angles.  For each triangle, I placed my flat edge along the previous piece of tape, using the tape on the flat edge as my guide.  

The top tape is what I stuck to the ruler; right below it you can see through the ruler the tape line that is stuck to the drawer.  Pencil mark was drawn on drawer following ruler above top tape line.

I then traced the new edge with a pencil to my middle line creating perfectly spaced angles along the whole dresser.

Tape ready to go with my dresser model

Once the entire design was laid out, I sanded the areas showing bare wood so the paint would stick better.  

Sanded

I painted three light coats, waiting for the paint to dry in between coats.  

1-2 coats of paint

The instructions on the FrogTape recommend removing the tape before the paint is completely dry.  I followed these directions with pretty mixed results.  I think I need to work with Andy on inventing a painters tape that actually does everything it says it will.  I had to remove the tape VERY slowly, making sure I took it up evenly to prevent any paint from peeling with it.  The places I had the most difficult time with peeling paint were at the triangle peaks.  Overall, this tape bled less than blue painters tape I have used in the past, but I still had issues with bleeding where the drawer lip cut into the design.

Looking at the edges, you can see a bit where the paint bled past the tape

Once the tape was removed, I used my box cutter to carefully scrape any places that the paint bled through the tape.

Bleeding removed

I also went through with one of E’s paintbrushes to fix any places that had peeled when the tape was removed.

You can see a spot at the peak that peeled with the tape

Paint totally dry, I decided to give the whole piece a distressed looked by hand sanding.  I first used a 220 grit sandpaper but then upped to a 100 grit when the 220 wasn’t making a big difference.  I sanded down to bare wood in places that would normally see wear-and-tear like the edges and corners, trying to give a natural, worn look.

Distressing on edges of dresser top

Some distressing on the drawers

This is definitely the step that I am most uncomfortable with and still experimenting.  I keep telling myself that if I take off too much or don’t like the look, I can always repaint but it is hard to sand off work that you just did!

After I was happy with the distressed look, I decided to try a wax product- Creme Wax by Americana.  

Finished pieces should be sealed somehow either with a wax or varnish.  Varnishes usually give a harder finish that is good for something that will get a lot of wear and tear or get wet (such as a vanity).  Wax is a little less durable but gives a nice sheen look, rather than gloss.  It can be buffed to desired sheen and reapplied at any time.  I have used furniture wax on pieces before but found this Creme Wax when I was picking up Chalk paint for E’s new bed.  

The directions on the container are pretty vague but the website gives a few more tips and a video that was helpful.  The consistency of the Creme is almost like lotion as opposed to a harder wax.  I did not have a special wax brush, nor the inclination to purchase one so I used the second option, a dry, lint free rag to apply.  

I applied with the grain of the wood in light layers, wiping off any excess that gooped in corners.  

Looking to the right of the Creme Wax container, you can kind of see where I have applied wax and where I haven't.  Definitely adds some richness to the paint.

It dried very quickly so I applied two thin coats.  After the second coat dried (again, this took 30 minutes or less), I used a white, smooth cotton rag to buff the piece.  Buffing is not required; no buff leave a very matte looking piece.  I decided to buff a bit in hopes of smoothing out any sanding and waxing lines.  

In the light, it is a pretty noticeable difference between buffed and non-buffed areas.  I tried buffing with the grain as well as in circles and preferred the with-the-grain look since you can kind of see stroke marks in the wood/paint.

Finally, I screwed the original hardware back onto the drawers, with new non skin cutting screws and Viola!  Updated dresser perfect for a kids room!

Once Andy is done with the room and we get the dresser moved back in, "we" will work on building a bookcase on the top creating one, cohesive unit.  I can't wait!

Origin Story: Kid's Bedroom Remodel

So here it is Christmas Eve.  Kids awake at 6 am (not bad in our opinion), excited to start the Christmas festivities.  This is our first year at home during the holidays so we have a week-long extravaganza of Christmas awesomeness scheduled as we host relatives excited to spend the holidays with us.  We like to keep Christmas pretty low key and simple around here so today we are opening gifts that were mailed to us and keeping track of what time it is by spreading various, scrumptious appetizer foods throughout the day such as breakfast flatbread, roast beef sliders and spicy-rubbed chicken wings.  YUM.

So what do two, renovation crazy people decide to do right at Christmas, preparing for lots of visitors and expecting baby #3 in 4 weeks or so?  This.

Considering just a week ago we were still in a project-break around here a lot has changed.  We jump into new projects for a variety of reasons:  necessity, boredom, extensive planning, etc.  Ripping out E's walls and putting in new insulation and drywall have been on our necessary list from day one of buying the house when the room looked like this.

We we first moved in, I was 9 months pregnant with F and we were already overwhelmed with the work we wanted to do before moving trucks appeared- mainly painting all the white walls in the house (which is SO much easier to do before you are moving furniture) and replacing the flooring in the two kid's rooms.  Ripping out walls at this time was not a high priority so we decided to put it off a bit.  We spruced up the room with new flooring (really inexpensive linoleum tiles), painted walls and trim and a new ceiling light/fan.

Over the next two years, we could tell that the walls had minimal insulation as proven by the extreme temperature changes felt in there.  Or the insulation is fine and a ghost is inhabiting the room...  We also were concerned by sounds of mice running through the walls in what must have been a dream play land for them.  Other projects came up such as the bathroom remodel that took precedence so the room kept getting put off.  Despite that, I collected ideas from magazines for the room.

This was my first plan- an idea from This Old House but it is hard to pull the trigger of the expense of built in beds that then stay with the house.

I found this in Country Living last month and was obsessed with the metal beds.

Flash forward to about a week ago when I discovered a twin bed that I couldn't walk away from at my favorite shop Adourn, located in Chatfield, MN.  I had been keeping my eye out for twin metal bed frames to put in the room so E and F could share the room and baby #3 could move into the nursery room.  Finding a wood bed was not in my plan but after driving away, a quick phone call to Andy convinced me to turn around like a crazy person and buy the damn bed.  Love at first sight.

Adourn purchase- you can see the footboard behind the headboard at the bottom of the picture.

Bed in car, the project was finally in full swing but we had to decide if we would go ahead and deal with the walls at this point or just leave them as they were, put in two beds and fix the walls later.

Andy was charged with creating a budget so we could decide what direction to go.  Andy hates that I have him do this but I really have no clue how much things will cost- even with all the renovations we have done.  For example, I was expecting something around $350 for insulation and drywall so when he came back at $750 I almost shit a brick.  Next step of the bid process is going over every line item and me nickel and diming or questioning every choice.  Marriages are broken up over stuff like this but luckily we got through it.  Scaling down his original lighting plan and deciding to reuse the current trim, we worked the budget down closer to $550.  Still painful right at Christmas time especially considering would would need to buy one more twin bed as well as mattresses.  After creating a pro and con list of the project, we decided to go ahead with it.  What put us over was the fact that he would have 2 weeks off of work as well as family visiting that could lend a hand so hopefully we can get it finished quickly.  Haha... famous last words probably.

Project a go, I took a day to visit some antique stores and Habitat ReStores in Winona and Lacrosse.  I couldn't believe it when I stumbled on a head and foot board at the first store I walked into (minus the pre shopping stop at a donut shop)- the Winona Habitat Restore.  It was the right size and a similar style to the bed from Adourn plus it was $10!

The bed did not have a frame with it but I was pretty confident Andy could make something work and at $10 I was willing to give it a try.  A few more stops in Lacrosse netted me some chalk paint (Esther picked out a pretty light pink) and stripper for $25 so I could refinish it.  $35 total at this point-  a huge steal and a big help to the final budget!

Side by side beds- bed on the right needs to be painted still

So we are a "Go For Launch" and now that Andy has starting ripping out the walls, too far to turn back now.  As you are visiting with family, opening gifts, feasting on meats, sides and pie or resting after Christmas check back to follow our progress as we work on "Project Kid's Room 2014!".  Our goal is to put up quick updates daily (we may even try our hands at Vlogging).  Happy Holidays!