Here's the dresser when we started. The Sailor sanded down the rough edges, and I went to the task with my paint brush. Using Annie Sloan chalk paint meant we didn't even have to strip the wood or prime! I definitely would recommend using a small roller to ensure that there aren't any brush marks. We didn't plan on distressing the dresser, like most people do with the chalk paint, so it did look a little streaky until I smoothed it out with the roller.
After. Here it is with two generous coats of paint and a soft wax. We were smarter with the second dresser we painted-- take the drawers out first and paint those separately to avoid having to wedge a little brush back into the crevaces. We had to do some touch-ups with the small brush post-painting, but it looks decent.
The Sailor spray-painted the overlays a seafoam blue/green to match our bedding. He used two coats of spray, and then we measured and affixed the panels with liquid nails. We bought the white liquid nails, but buy clear for household projects like this. We had to go back around the detailed panels with a q-tip and wipe off the extra liquid nails that seeped out, but there are still some areas we couldn't get perfectly clean.
That Sailor- Boy is he a saint! He's handy AND patient AND handsome AND smart. I'm one lucky woman! After we'd put two of the overlays on the tall dresser, he suddenly said, "Wait, why are there six panels when we only have five drawers?" Oops. We started to put the set of overlays for the long, wide, six-drawer dresser on the five-drawer, tall dresser. Fortunately, only two of the overlays were on when he realized our mistake, but it did require some minor repair work to fix the paint job. Guess that I lost my project manager job!
After. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, and it saved us from spending a bundle on a new bedroom set!
