It’s really nice to have a project idea in your head and have it come out like you imagined. A lot of times things I plan end up way different than the initial vision, but the dresser worked out just right!

Here was the before:

I did this with my own version of chalk paint. Again, that was using calcium carbonate (bought online) mixed in a 1:2 ratio of CC to paint. So, for these sample jars (8 oz) I used 1/2 cup of calcium carbonate plus 2-3 tablespoons of water. Mix the water and calcium carbonate, then mix in the paint. The thing I love about making my own is that I can buy a small sample color and not have to purchase a whole quart of chalk paint (super expensive), which allows me to have multiple colors on the same piece.

 

I decided to go ahead and prime the dresser with Bullseye primer just to make sure the paint would adhere and also because I was going from dark to light and only wanted to do 2 coats of paint.  I took the drawers out and took them to another room to paint. I will be honest and tell you I didn’t even take the clothes out LOL. I am such a risk taker 😀  I put the dresser frame onto some pieces of wood to elevate it and painted that right in the bedroom.  

I got some great hardware from Cabinet Hardware Designs on Ebay.  Their prices are amazing!  I got 3 pulls and 4 knobs for about $15 with shipping.  Score!!!   The only annoyance on the hardware is that the screws that came with the pulls are too long:

Now I have to buy some nuts to fit in there – or cut the screws.  

Once the painting was done, it was time to do the graphic on top.  Since I was doing a large size, it was going to be to hard to do an inkjet transfer, which I did with my little table since it only took 1 sheet.  So, I tried a different method I researched.  First, I took the graphic from The Graphics Fairy and enlarged it using Block Posters.  I played around with the sizing and decided I didn’t want the graphic to be too huge on top.  This gave me 7 sheets of paper, which I taped together and measured placement on the dresser.

 

Then I took a soft drawing pencil (you could use chalk) and rubbed the back of the design all over with it.

Then I flipped it back over and taped it in place. You need to tape it so that it won’t move around when you are tracing.  The next step was to take a pen and trace the outline of everything.  This was fairly painstaking and I am glad I did not have a hugely ornate design.

 

The beauty of the chalk paint is that it takes any kind of transfer really well.  When I lifted the paper up, I had the design transferred in place.

Neat, right?  I was stoked that this actually worked LOL!  Now I filled in the letters with a fine Sharpie.

I would have like a more dark gray color, but that would have meant using paint and a brush and since my skills in fine painting are on a preschool level, I decided to live with the black.  This took some time to do – maybe an hour?

 

It’s not completely perfect. I had a smudge, but it’s barely noticable.

Normally I like to do poly on things, but I only had spray satin. I didn’t want to drag the dresser downstairs and outside to spray, so I decided to go ahead and try waxing the piece instead since I had some.

I tried waxing before, but it was on latex and didn’t work well.  The beauty of chalk paint is how well it takes the wax. Nice to learn these things.  I did 2 thin coats of wax on the drawers and sides and 5 thin coats of wax on the top for extra protection.  Note – I tried putting wax over the sharpie on a scrap piece of wood to make sure it wouldn’t smear, which it did not, obviously.

I love how it came out!

 

With buying the paint samples and hardware, this project cost me about $25.  I already had the calcium carbonate, which still was only $5 for 5# and I have it for future projects. So even if you count that, it was $30 for a fun new dresser!

However, I do need to buy a new clock.  This one just doesn’t go with the dresser LOL!