A couple of days later I decided that $20 was a feasible investment for a piece to paint and sell in the flea market so I went back to see if it was still there. It was so ugly I thought it was gone because, on second viewing, I was sure I would never pick out something so ugly. Or would I? But it WAS the same one. Even better, the price was now 50% off. My price: $9.98 (and no tax since it was a thrift store).
(That even uglier 60's dresser that you can see in the corner off to the right may be my next project if it hangs around long enough!)
The dresser had some issues with it's interior structure (drawer supports and such) but I can handle that. It also seemed to be short a few drawer pulls and it only had two of the twelve little knobs that were originally on the top two drawers. Upon further inspection and a search inside the drawers, I found all the missing drawer pulls. And I only needed two of the little knobs to open the top two drawers anyway so it was ok that ten (yes, TEN!) were missing (that's 84% if you want to obsess on it mathematically with me).
Here's a shot of the original wood grain so my manical wood-loving friends Jeff and Barbara can truly suffer.
There truly is God in color for me. I have this rule about only using paint that I get for free from the city's waste disposal facility. I go there once or twice a week to see what they have. Amber, the little blonde 20-something who runs the warehouse probably thinks I'm the biggerst huffer in town. I usually walk away with the limit of 8 items per visit: paint, spray paint, car care products, cleaners, spray adhesive, plant food for roses. Often, they have things I don't even know I need yet but, if I trust the process and my little inner voice, I end up with just what I need (sometimes even before the project I need it for arrives).
For this project, I mixed together a wedgewood blue called "Peacock Plume" (remember that little round pedestal table that I used it on previously?) and a sea-foam green and I think I got pretty close to the "old map-water blue-green" that I'd envisioned. Close enough anyway! In the past I was able to fret over subtle nuances of shades of colors for months and months and never get to the project because of the color dilemma. Now, I just trust God with the color selections and everything goes pretty well (and much more quickly)! Like most colors, this blue changes dramatically with the lighting.
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| The paint was truly transformational for the body of the dresser and really brought out the curves. |
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| Drawers in process. |
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| Detail of maps on drawers (before glue). |
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| This was a test to see if I liked the drawer pulls and knobs in their original antique brass color. I did not. |
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| So I sprayed them with (free) chrome (not silver!) paint. Much better! |
Here is the finished product -- all done and ready to go to the flea market if it doesn't sell off Craigslist before I can get it there (things sell off Craigslist SO FAST!). I'm wishing a had put a globe and some more red stuff on top of it for the photo!
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| I think it looks really good with red accents! |
This time the tag says $125.
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