Before & After Furniture Projects

I really enjoy seeing before and after pictures of other's furniture projects. It always amazing to me how a piece can be transformed. I've been working on a couple pieces over the last few weeks. One is a dresser that was sitting out for trash in someones driveway. Can you believe it? It's a solid piece of furniture with cedar lined drawers. Since we have a baby on the way I scooped this up fast. Once I put a changing pad on top it will make the perfect changing table. 

This piece was the very first time I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I can hear the gasps, since most creative types discovered this paint a long time ago. I added a little water to the paint since I wanted to do just a light wash. The color I used is Old White. I have to say this paint really is impressive and I'll admit worth the high price. Since I did a wash I hardly used any paint at all. 

Finding the perfect knobs or redoing the old ones is one of my favorite parts of the transformation. The impact is always huge. I went to Anthropologie first because they had knobs on sale, that's where I found the adorable fox. The yellow knobs I originally got did not work though so I went to the next best place to get hardware, Hobby Lobby. I love that these glass knobs look old. 

I suppose I might be becoming slightly obsessed with collecting furniture at the lowest price or preferably free and fixing it up. I frequently find things on the side of the road. It does my heart good to rescue these pieces.

I got the set above off Craigslist from a sweet older couple. My husband didn't understand why I would get such a thing. But I had a vision like usual and told him to trust me. We just painted our guest room orange. Our inspiration was the rock in Utah which is one of our favorite places. I didn't have a headboard for the guest bed or a side table because I moved it somewhere else in the house. I also wanted something I could use for books and that would break up the orange walls. 

This was my second time using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and this time I didn't want it too look quite as rustic. Although one reason I love this paint is because it's so easy to make it look naturally worn with it's matte finish. The process of painting with this stuff is so fun but doing one dark and light color had it's challenges. 

I chose whimsical fish knobs for the headboard since the guest room is also our gear/travel room where we keep our fishing, hiking and other adventuring things. I decided since the handle on the end table was metal I would keep it. The chalk paint easily adhered to the metal and made an awesome finish with just one coat. 

I used Old White and Aubusson Blue for these pieces. I still have over 1/2 a can of the white left and I used a small tester pot for the blue. This paint goes a long way. I can't wait to get these pieces in the house and see how they look. It will be a while though since we've got everything prepped to get carpet installed. Oh and my next quick project will be to paint those wood chairs you can see a little of in the picture above. They were another side of the road find. 

Have you used this kind of paint before? If you have any good advice I'd love to hear it since I'm still a chalk paint beginner.