Filed under: Bedroom, Projects, Furniture
The first step in remaking a dresser: Choose a pretty paint color.My search for a dresser to store my fashion accessories, undergarments, socks and T-shirts took on a life of its own. I spent hours -- over the course of a year -- trolling Craigslist. My hopes quickly turned to frustration when I was met with my options: 1970s and 1980s dressers with ornate, carved wood in dark tones. Retailers offered my dream dresser for close to $1,000, but that was out of my budget. As someone well past the college-dorm phases of my life, I wanted an item that was built well and made with good, quality materials (even if this meant I had to revamp it myself).
Before and after, from left to right. Photo: Kristine Hansen
Finally, the solution presented itself: My boyfriend offered me his childhood dresser. I took it under one condition -- that I could redo it. Neither one of us could stand looking at it in its current condition. Painted a ghastly, bright red and plastered with beer stickers, the dresser was practically begging for a makeover and so down from the attic it came.
Now I just had to choose a paint color. I knew that I wanted a light shade of blue, green or gray. Armed with dozens of paint swatches from Future Green, an eco-friendly store in my Milwaukee neighborhood, I studied the swatches. I tried to visualize each shade after two or three coats over the dresser's wood.
I purchased these drawer pulls on clearance at Anthropologie. Photo: Kristine Hansen
I settled on Cayman Blue by Benjamin Moore & Co. with American Pride interior latex (a zero-VOC, solvent-free paint). I also considered Costa Rica Blue and Cedar Green, and I'll admit, just like Cayman Blue, I was drawn to them as much as for the names as the colors themselves. Cayman Blue won out, in part, because I immediately recalled -- in vivid detail -- a vacation my boyfriend and I spent on Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman. We had pulled our lounge chaises up to the water's edge and listened to the waves crashing. With winter looming back home, we appreciated every minute on that beach.
I bought one can of paint ($33) and six new drawer pulls from Anthropologie ($4 each on clearance). After two hours of painting, essentially applying two coats, I was happy. I did nothing to perfect the tiny holes and bumps in the dresser because it seemed like authentic shabby chic to me. Total cost of the makeover: $57!
I love the nostalgic feeling that washes over me when, sleepy-eyed, I open up one of the dresser drawers for a warm pair of socks or my favorite T-shirt. It's the color that inspires me to have a great day, even if it's bitter cold in Wisconsin.