Dresser Make Over

This is a big week! I'm in full preparation mode for nationals this weekend, getting my work squared away and the house ready for family to stay for 5 days. I'll post tomorrow with nationals details for anyone that wants to keep up with Jack's team. 

I've gotten in a crafty mood recently and I finally turned my eyes to this dresser that I've had for.....a year?? I think? It was a free curbside find and it has sat in our foyer in the same curbside condition ever since. It's been good for dining room storage but I doubt it will stay here forever. It's a bit too big for the space. That being said...it will likely stay here for another year before I figure out where it's going to go.

I decided to try my hand at chalk paint. I've heard all about this Annie Sloan chalk paint. The problem is it's hard to find and it's kind of expensive. I found a boutique in apex that carried it but when I got there the store had moved to north Raleigh. I decided I wasn't making that trek so that's how I landed on a new Valspar version that is being sold at Lowes. 

It had mixed reviews. The Annie Sloan die-hards didn't like it but other people who were trying to be unbiased seem to think it was OK and worth a shot. I decided to go for all black.....not my typical paint go-to, but I want to do super fun gold/brass handles.

So, the first thing you have to do is clean the dresser. This was gross. Note to self....clean anything you find on the side of the road BEFORE bringing it into the house. Not a year later. 

There were two pretty big chips that needed to be filled in with wood putty before starting. 

Wood putty and sanding got it good enough for me.

The real appeal of this paint for me is the lack of required prep work. No sanding or priming required which sounded amazing! I don't like sanding and priming is boring so if I could cut that step out and still get it to look amazing then I was all for it.

The paint was pretty easy to work with. It took two coats to get good coverage. It dries in a super matte finish...very much like a chalk board. Once it's painted it's time to apply the wax. This is where it got weird. I wish I had read about the waxing before I with with Valspar. I looked online to find out how long I should wait before waxing. There were a lot of complaints that the wax STRIPPED the paint off. Seriously. I just spent all afternoon putting on two coats of paint and this finishing wax was about to strip it all off? The valspar reps claimed user error and said you need to let the paint cure for 24 hours before waxing it.

So, 24 hours later I cautiously applied a super thin coat of wax. With the Annie Sloan paint you put on the wax and buff it off. With the Valspar you put the wax on super thin and gently wipe it away. No buffing. I found this to be super tedious. If I rubbed too hard it stripped the paint. It's like the wax softens the paint. Crosby hairs would get stuck in the wax and if I used a finger nail to get the hair out the paint came off. If I rubbed to hard or too fast with the cloth, the paint came off. Super annoying.

I did get into a rhythm and it turned out OK but the finish is still super matte and it still leaves white streaks if someone touches it or puts something on it.

They wipe right off but I'm still not convinced. I might try another coat of wax or I might just poly it even though the wax it supposed to do the trick.

I feel like this picture doesn't really do it justice. Justice is the wrong word because it doesn't really deserve a lot of justice at this point, but it doesn't represent it well. I'm hoping a coat of poly and some slick new handles will be a game changer. As for the paint....I'll give Annie Sloan chalk paint a try but Valspar didn't win me over with this go around.

As for handles, I'm thinking something long, like these.

 What do you think?