"There'll Be Some Changes Made" -- 181st Metamorphosis Monday

Have I ever mentioned that I love having a pretty house filled with pretty things?  I do!  I love finding the perfect doodad...uhhhnn....thing....uhhhnn....piece to add to a room that makes it just right!  It's a gift!  I love deciding on a new color scheme for a room and finding just the right blend of old and new to give a space a whole different feel.  I frequently come across a project to create or recreate something fun to add.    If I had the money, I would be updating and changing rooms all the time!

Have I also ever mentioned that I have not one crafty, creative, or artistic skill to DO whatever project I come up with and make it turn out exactly the way I see it in my mind's eye!  My efforts by and large suck swamp water.  What looks easy isn't!  What seems simple is hard for me.  Consequently, if I can't buy it in the exact condition I want it, I will never personally be able to do the work to make it that way!  It's a little....ok, a LOT frustrating.


Have I mentioned that I have a not-so-secret weapon?  I have the Big Guy!  He has all the skills I do not have in the "make something" arena.  My Big Guy can fix, make, or put together ANYTHING!  He can paint, build, redo, remodel, and install whatever idea I can come up with.  HE is a gift!!


Sooo, I will share with you our latest project....and, yes, it is OUR project!  I come up with the idea and he makes it happen. 


I needed a dresser for my bedroom.  About EIGHT  YEARS ago I found this blinding beauty in a used furniture store.  OH. MY. GOD.  These photos were taken at the point we had already started the redo, so you won't get the full effect of the HORROR!  Nevertheless I liked the lines and saw it much differently in my mind.   It sat and sat and SAT in the garage until we were inspired to move it along.  I certainly still needed the storage and it certainly wasn't doing anything for anyone sitting in the garage!

BEFORE:

We decided that the dresser must have belonged to a teenage girl who wanted BRIGHT!  Well, I like bright and all, but this was just SOOOO bright!


I had seen a lot of evidence of the epidemic of ANNIE SLOAN CHALK PAINT invading homes of crafty decorators all throughout Blogland.  It looked and sounded like it would be easy!  And it WAS....for me!  For the Big Guy....not quite so.  We chose a warm cream (sorry, I can't remember the actual name of the paint). As the directions advised,  Mikey painted without priming, without sanding anymore than the top and the places where he had used wood filler.  


He found out that in certain circumstances (like painting over HOT PINK AND GOLD) , the highly touted Annie Sloan Chalk Paint did NOT cover in one coat as advertised.  It covered most of it, but there were two drawers that just didn't want to give up the pink!  It kept bleeding through!  Mikey tried several different brushes, left it to cure for a few days between coats, but still the pink came through.  We decided that the pink must have been a water based paint (I personally think it had been watered down a bit too....maybe going for the look of a wash??) and because the chalk paint was water based too, it just kept interacting with the old paint.  


Finally, after about six coats on the offending drawers, it stopped bleeding through!!  YAY!  And it was beautiful!

AFTER:

Isn't it GORGEOUS??  We had originally intended to distress it but when we (all right, HE) got to this point it seemed like it would be a sin to beat on it!!  I figure in a few years it will become distressed all on it's own!


I'm sorry I'm not a better photographer.  These shots do not do justice to either the before or the after!  The afters seem to show a lot of imperfections, but they are shadows or poor lighting or really bad photography.  But it doesn't matter too much, because in real life it went from horrid to heavenly!  


Thanks again to the Big Guy!  It is lovely and soooo much better than I ever hoped for!

I am so pleased with this, I am sending it to the 181st Metamorphosis Monday (if I can figure out how!) at

http://www.betweennapsontheporch.net/

And... Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick

Thrifty Decor Chick

Go visit all the lovely links with changes of their own.  You'll love it!  I do!

Compared to all the beautiful Metamorphoses and Before and Afters, this is kind of small potatoes, I know.  Still, it's a big change for us!!  Hope you enjoyed our makeover!!  I think we may have started something around here!  Yep, "There'll Be Some Changes Made!"