172 Our Dreamy Studio Dresser is DONE!

Finally!  I can finally say that I painted the studio dresser.  It took me almost an entire year along with countless polls and paint swatches to finally select a color and get my rear in gear.  And I am so glad that I not only waited, but that I finally got. it. done.

To help jog your memory, I found this dresser on Craigslist last year:

I figured the dresser would be a great, slim way to add a bunch of studio storage for items like fabric, extra school supplies, miscellaneous "in progress" projects and decor pieces.  All those extra things that really have a hard time finding a nice home.

The storage has been working swimmingly, however, the color, not so much.  I thought about white, but we have SO much white already.  I thought about yellow, but after working on the adjoining playroom, I wasn't sure yellow was "right".  I thought about turquoise, and even painted some onto the side of the dresser to see for sure.  Nope.  Wasn't right either.  And with future plans in my brain to build in more white cabinetry, I thought something a little darker would be a nice balance.

That is when my gal, Emily, introduced me to the color Restless Sea by Behr.

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She was using it on some furniture in her home, and I fell instantly in mad love.  I knew it was just the color I had been searching for.  And it helped in a major way to see it already being used on furniture.

Since the dresser is a cheapo veneer dresser, I knew it would need some work before painting.  It also had a small water mark on the top.

We used fine grit sandpaper to sand down the entire dresser.  The point wasn't to scratch it up, just to even it out and give it a little texture to help the primer and paint get a nice grip.

Since we were also planning on swapping out the hardware, we also used woodfiller to fill the old hardware holes and ran the sander over the dresser fronts as well.

After sanding, the dresser was wiped down with a damp rag, and then a thin coat of oil based primer was used to cover all of the visible surfaces.

After the primer dried, the next day I got to painting!  It was looking lovely, but once it dried, we realized that our woodfiller had shrunk a bit, so we added some more, resanded, and painted another coat.

Much much better!!

Except those drawer insides and sides.  Oh boy.  Those needed to be painted also.  So they got a few coats of white paint which made a major difference.  So happy I didn't skip the important details!

You know me and my obsession with lining drawers... being that this is my studio workspace, I thought it would be fun to add some fresh pops of color to make me smile each time I open the drawers.  And wrapping paper never lets me down!

Measure, cut, spray {adhesive} and pop it inside!

For the new hardware, I took advantage of a recent D.Lawless coupon code I shared during a giveaway I was hosting, and picked up ten of these pretty ladies.

Ready to see the lovely results?

Once again, a little paint, a little hardware, a whole new piece of furniture!

The charging station moved from our bedroom area to the studio, since I was finding the phone a distraction throughout the night while I was trying to sleep.

The fresh flowers are a nice addition to the space as well.  If only they could last foreva!

Now for the glorious before and after:

Oooh, and it feels oh so awesome to have another project checked off of the ol' top ten project list!  Wahoo!  I love the way the blue pops against the gray blue walls and white trim and doors.  I love the white hardware against the beautiful blue backdrop.  I love all of the storage and that it was an old Craigslist frog that turned into my handsome prince of a dresser.

Anyone else painting some furniture recently and totally swooning over the end result?  What are your favorite furniture color choices?