.hello. chalk paint dresser

So my hubby is king of spotting free furniture on the edge of a road. I mean, a mile away! He gets it honestly too, his mom is the same way. Once she tried to get us to meet her outside of a CVS so we could get a shelf thing they’d put out by their dumpster. For fear of the cops, I lovingly declined. You see, while the hubby spots the furniture, I’m just too worried to pick it up. Once when we first moved into our house we had an outdoor glider his parents had given us and before we could move it to the backyard a big storm came up and knocked it down our hill to the bottom of our drive way. I saw it that morning on my way to work but I was running late so I decided to just drag it back up when I got home. Yeah…. someone picked it up while I was gone to work. I was so upset! I even rode around the neighborhood trying to spot it so I could get it back. (I still miss my glider!) Since then I’ve been scarred from picking up peoples tossed out treasures.
We have a neighbor, that no lie, has to clean out their entire house once a week. I mean, they have a huge pile of stuff all the time waiting for the garbage man. I don’t see how they have anything left! A few months ago while driving home the hubby pointed out a small dresser/large end table tossed out among their other various throw aways. We drove past it and straight home but for hours I couldn’t get it out of my head. Finally, after talking myself through the fact that it was obviously being thrown out since it was on top of piles of cardboard boxes, various old blankets, and random broken kitchen bits, I told RJ we simply had to go back for it, and we did. It’s been sitting disheveled in what I hope will eventually be the reading nook in my room, looking very sad, but full of so much potential. There was not a thing wrong with this guy other than needing a little love and some knobs. Today I’ve been feeling restless and antsy (blame it on the rain and my last day of freedom before rehearsal and holiday season starts) so I decided to pull out the piece and go to town on it!  I’ve been reading about chalk paint for a while now and as soon as I saw it I was in love…. with everything except the price tag. Yeash! Enter- pinterest. After a little research and some time down at Home depot I came home with everything ready to create a master piece with DIY chalk paint! The best thing about it? No sanding or prep work required. I know right!? Perfect for those lazy crafters like myself!

Please excuse the crappy process photos. I actually started painting at 7:30 at night because I just didn’t want to wait for morning for the best light! I chose a deep teal color after seeing so many pieces of furniture online that color that I’d fallen in love with, grabbed some plaster of paris and went to work! Making the paint was so super easy and I’m planning on repeating this process several times over on various pieces around my home. Nothing is safe anymore!

Sorry about the lack of good before photos. I was dying to start on the dresser and started painting at 7:30 at night!

We painted the dresser a wonderful muted teal/turquoise with chalk paint and then distressed it to show the black underneath.

Our new teal/turquoise dresser with mercury glass knobs and a crystal pull distressed to perfection and the chalk paint ball jar I did with the dresser in mind. Imagine someone throwing this guy in the trash!

Have you refinished any furniture that you are extra proud of? What about picking up furniture off the side of the road? Have you done it? What project did you complete from it?

Linking up at: DIYhomesweethome, Keeping it Simple, Be Colorful, Brassy Apple, skip to my lou, making the world cuter, sumos sweet stuff