Stenciled Dresser for One Crafty Contest

My dresser made it into the top 15 at One Crafty Contest!  If your not following along, at One Artsy Mama, you should be.  Readers get to vote for their favorites!

When I found out paint was the challenge I had a flash flood of ideas.  Paint sounds so easy but the options are endless and it made this a real challenge.  I finally pulled my thoughts together and I thought of this dresser I bought at a yard sale this spring.  Finding time to complete this project, in just 5 days, proved to be an even bigger challenge.    

Wednesday: 

I had so many ideas.  I had to weigh all the options and go with the one that would make the biggest impact.  I wanted to use different techniques and types of paint.  I planned to put this in my daughter's room and use the paint left over from her walls.

Thursday:

This dresser has been painted so many times before.  It even had that funky smell, yeah you know the smell.  I just couldn't put another coat of paint over it.  I had to strip off all the old paint and do this right.  I used my palm sander with 80grit paper and then 150grit paper.

Friday: 
I finished sanding the edges of the drawers, by hand.  I was even able to get all the drawers painted.  Then, I had to stop the project for my son's ball game.

The first coat of primer.

 The first coat of paint.

Saturday:
I had to take time off to have my son's birthday party!  I found time, later that night when my husband got home, to paint the body of the dresser white and the sides of the drawers lavender.  I had the hardest time deciding what stencil to use.  It was getting late and I was too tired to do anymore work. 

Sunday:
It was to humid to paint outside. So, I had to take the project inside.  I started stenciling the sides and the top.  Stenciling is really time consuming but well worth the effort.  I learned from experience that you need to use a repositionable spray adhesive to avoid bleeding (sounds painful, right?).  

I still didn't know how I was going to use the paint to transform this dresser.  I wanted to stencil but I had a hard time choosing the pattern.  I went with the Martha Stewart Arabesque Craft Stencil for the top and sides.

 Stenciling really took a long time.  I used a foam roller to apply a very pale lavender paint.  I had to stop my project at 3:00 because my husband made plans with a friend to do a cook out (before I entered the contest).

Right about this point I decided to paint the sides and the face the same color as the stencil.
 

I started working on it again at about 7:00 pm.  I only had four hours left to submit the project. Yikes!!!  I added the knobs but felt that the front was to plain all white.  I felt like Pooh Bear, think, think, think.  What could I do to accent the drawers but not take away from the stencil?  Then it hit me, stripes!  The tape was just the right width for perfect stripes.  I covered the whole front and then removed every other piece.  Painting the exposed area lavender.

I removed all the tape and put the knobs on the drawers.  Then I added shelf lining to the inside of the drawers.  It was 10:00!  I finished on time.  Before I could submit my project I had to take pictures, create a collage, and do a write up.  With only 10 minutes to spare I completed the challenge.

Below is my submission.
 

When I found out paint was the challenge I had a flash flood of ideas.  Paint sounds so easy but the options are endless and it made this a real challenge.  I finally pulled my thoughts together and I thought of this dresser I bought at a yard sale this spring.  This dresser has been painted so many times before.  It even had that funky smell, yeah you know the smell.  I just couldn't put another coat of paint over it.  I had to strip off all the old paint and do this right.  I painted the dresser, high gloss, white and stenciled the top and sides with a very faint, egg shell, lavender.  I painted the front of the drawers with a stripe pattern.  I used a slightly darker lavender to highlight the side of the drawers.  The dresser features two patterns, two sheens, and three colors, making it a playful yet subtle work of art.  Finally, for that finishing touch, I added white porcelain knobs.

Here are a few more pictures of the finished dresser.

 Thanks for reading and thanks for your support in the contest!  I can't wait to show you what I have in store for next week.

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