I also fell in love with Bryonie Porter's wallpaper covered furniture. Honestly, it's like she made it just for me.
My original plan was to makeover my daughter's existing dresser using these 2 ideas. But the more I looked at the curvy edges, the more I decided that, to save my sanity, I'd need to find something with straight lines.
Enter Craigslist. Daily searches finally found me a simple white campaign dresser.
(This dresser is similar to mine.)
It had several bumps & bruises. It was missing 2 of the corner brass plates, but I assumed (mistakenly, it turns out) that those could be replaced. Ignoring its cosmetic flaws, it was a very solid all wood piece of furniture, with straight lines! Exactly what I was looking for. So $40 & one squished finger later, I had it home.
I filled in the worst of the dings with some wood filler & a putty knife, then sanded the whole piece just enough to rough up the shiny finish & smooth out the puttied places.
After 2 coats of Zinsser primer, I applied 3 coats of Martha Stewart Living Metallic Polished Silver paint. It said to apply with a brush or sponge & I had read that you would see the brush strokes, so I decided to use a sponge. It was a little tricky to paint without seeing stop & start marks.
I had to work very quickly & paint narrow strips, very carefully running the sponge over the strip to make one continuous straight line before the paint dried too much. I probably could have only done 2 coats, but my first coat was pretty thin. I was a little nervous about how far that little bottle of paint would stretch, so I was going too easy. I also painted the top & side edges of the drawers and still have half of the bottle leftover.
I picked out lots of scrapbook papers that I thought my daughter would like from Hobby Lobby & Michael's, on sale of course.
I decided not to make each design the same width because it would drive me crazy if I couldn't get them all lined up perfectly. So I made 2 templates out of some thin cardboard backing to measure the height by, picked out what patterns I wanted to go together & cut them at random widths on my paper cutter until each drawer was covered.
I laid them all out as I went (and gave my husband strict instructions not to run by & create a wind) to make sure I wasn't repeating too much & to get an idea of the overall look.
Once everything was cut, I used Mod Podge to attach the papers to the drawer fronts, using an old discount card to push out any air bubbles. I tried to make sure each piece lined up straight with the top edge of the drawer, because try as I might, there were a few that were cut a little too long that I didn't notice until I was applying them. After allowing ample drying time, I went back with an X-acto knife & trimmed the extra off the bottom edge.
Another benefit to using random widths for my papers was being able to correct a slight error in measuring, which left me with a gap in pages on one drawer. I just cut a narrow piece & applied it over the gap.
Because of the way the handles attach into a recessed area on the drawer fronts, I felt like I needed to "help" that area.
(This is the back of one of the handles.)
If the handles were flush to the front like most drawers, I would have skipped this next step. But I was very paranoid about the paper tearing if I forced the handles in, so before applying a top coat of Mod Podge, I made small cuts into the recessed area where the handles would be attached.
Then I used one of the handles to press into the area & fold the paper into the correct shape. I was afraid if I did this step after applying Mod Podge to the top, the paper would be stiffer & may lift away from the dresser when pressed. I have no logic to explain this other than my experience working with Mod Podge & paper. I decided that was the safer choice.
Because I have had experience with seeing brush strokes when using Mod Podge, I decided to use a roller to apply the top coat to the drawers. The roller gave the glue an interesting textured finish which I liked much better than me having to make perfectly straight lines with a sponge.
I have also had problems with Mod Podge remaining tacky even after long drying periods. So I let them dry for a few days & then used Rustoleum Crystal Clear Enamel to apply 2 extra coats of protection over the papers.
Attach the handles, wipe out the drawers with a damp cloth to remove any dust, and they're ready to go in the dresser! My husband & I were finally able to attach the mirror we had bought months ago since we now had the final spot for the dresser, and my daughter has already started "accessorizing" the top. :) She told me tonight as she was going to bed that she just can't stop staring at it because she loves it so much. I consider that great success!!!
I say it's 99% done because I can't find replacements for the 2 corner pieces that were missing when I bought it. I've found the correct size at one place but apparently it is a factory & they won't sell them to me. So for now, the corner pieces aren't attached & I will most likely have to buy all new ones. Or we may leave them off for good. We just love it!
Thanks Suzy for featuring my project! It was a lot of fun to do (for a creative dork like me at least). ;)
You're no creative dork - more like a creative genius! BTW - I love the funky shape of the mirror that you paired with the dresser.
Thank you so much, Mandy, for writing this wonderful tutorial and allowing me to share your project.
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I love to feature your projects! Drop me a line if you have something that you'd like to share.
I'll be sharing Mandy's dresser at these fun parties:
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