Gilded French Provincial Dressers

You know how you have those projects that you will get to someday? And you just make do with what you have until someday arrives? I am so excited to say that I've knocked another project off my 'someday' list!

Man, it feels so good to say that. These dressers have been on the someday list for 7 years. 7 YEARS! Since I first decorated our room, I've known that I wanted to paint or change our very traditional and ugly dressers.

Now there's nothing wrong with their styling. We found these dressers in a consignment shop up in Jersey years ago, and it was love at first sight. I loved their curves and details, but I have always hated their color. Ugh. it was a tired and old looking pecan-ish color.

So when the hubs was out of town last week, it was time to make them pretty. I had a great plan. A grand plan. I had an incomplete plan, and it became a problem when I got the bodies of the dressers painted and then didn't know how to finish.

If y'all follow me on Instagram, then you maybe remember seeing this:

A post shared by Heather Boyajian (@sewhalfcrazy) on Jun 1, 2017 at 12:48pm PDT

Yep, I got almost done, and then didn't know where to go from there. Luckily Pinterest was there to save the day. I spent an hour or so combing through their treasure troves, and then I finally knew what I was going to do.

Let  me back up a bit, because, as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself. I painted the bodies of the dressers in Arctic White by Valspar, and I used my fave DIY Chalk paint recipe {HERE}. I actually bought the quart of white back when we painted our room in January. The one part of my plan was that I knew the dressers were going to go white. With our room being such a strong, dark blue, I wanted the dressers to stand out, and what better way of making that happen than with a stark contrast.

So I haven't been quite honest, I did have a plan, but I was afraid it would look awful. Scouring pinterest really just reassured me that my plan might look good good. I'm going to veer a little off course here, because the following story just needs to be shared.

I head to Target, because I know they have gold paint. Target sells Devine Paint by Valspar, and they have some lovely and trendy colors. The gold I picked up was $20 for the quart, and called karat. Its an old looking gold, that looked to be just about the shade I'd used in my room for some of the other accents. I wasn't thrilled about the price tag, but the color was right, and if I found a better deal somewhere else then I could always return it.

Next on my trip was Lowe's, and I figure that while I'm there I'll ask about their gold paint. So after I pick up some kilz primer, sand paper, and chip brushes, I head over to the paint counter to ask about gold paint. The gent behind the counter is nice and asks what I'm doing. I tell him I'm painting the drawer fronts on my dressers and I'd like them to have a gilded look. He asks if I have gold paint already. I say that I do, but I wanted to check out what they have. The gent looks me dead in the eye and says that the gold paint that Valspar makes is only sold by the gallon and it's quite expensive, so that if I already have my paint and I'm happy with it, then I should stick with it. Well alrighty then. I thank the gent for his honesty and input and then continue on to the checkouts. I never did find out how much that other paint was.

So I sand and prime the drawer fronts. Then I roll on the first coat of the gold paint. I've made a mistake. I know I've made a mistake. This is not going to look like I want it to at all. I will not be deterred so easily though so at 11:30 pm on Friday, I decide to brush on the next coat of gold paint, and it is everything I hoped it be and more!

The paint is so thick. Almost like it's got glue in it, and it doesn't spread well. I'm putting on a heavier coat than I normally would simply because of how thick this paint is, but OHMIGOSH it looks fabulous. I don't know if its just the fact that its the 2nd coat, or that it's the fact that I'm brushing it on. I finish the 2nd coat on all the drawer fronts about 12:30 am, and I can't wait to wake up and see the morning sun hit my gloriously beautiful drawers.

I was not disappointed. This was the view of my dresser when I woke up. I wasn't done, with them, but the finish line was in sight. I still needed to paint all of the handles. So many handles between our two dressers, and I needed to clean up the top row of drawers on my dresser. Stupid faux double drawers. Do you know how hard it is to paint a clean line with chalk paint and a chip brush!? It's difficult.

I enlisted the kids to help me with the handles. They helped me carry them all down and arrange them on the drop cloth. Then they very happily told me when I missed a spot. So helpful. After getting all 24 handles painted in a similar, if a little lighter color gold, these beauties were done!

 I am so happy with how this project turned out. The 7 years it took me to decide on what to do with them was almost totally worth it. Completing this project also bring my master bedroom one step closer to being perfect!

Thanks so much for stopping by!