DIY Annie Sloan Dresser - Guest post from That Mama Gretchen

Guess what I'm doing today? You got it. Tearing apart my house. Today I'd like to welcome Gretchen from That Mama Grechen. Pretty much the consumate thrifter, Gretchen gives us a super easy step by step tutorial on how to take a Goodwill dresser and turn it into a repurposed masterpiece!

A big ol' congrats to Bianca and her family as they settle into their new home! I'm thrilled to see how they make it their own --- in my mind, Adam and Bianca (and Penelope too, I guess!) are the masters of home projects. I, on the other hand, can count on one hand the projects I've attempted :) Lucky you, I'm sharing one today!

Pinterest makes us do crazy things, ya'll. Things we never considered in the pre-Pinterest days. Things like buying crappy furniture, expensive paint and making grand plans to revamp trash into treasure. Yep, in the old days this girl would have just saved up her pennies for the Anthro piece of her dreams.



When the fam and I moved last Spring, I knew I wanted some sort of storage buffet for our kitchen nook. I kept my eye out for weeks for a piece that could work. Then, I found this gem for $30 at Goodwill.

Prior to scooping up this dresser I had done my research on furniture restoration. I knew that Annie Sloan paint was the way to go. There were rave reviews all over the internet and for our first furniture project I felt it was worth the investment to get the right tools for the job.



So, with our dresser safely stored in the garage we made our way to our local Annie Sloan dealer and bought the Aubusson Blue, soft wax and special Annie Sloan brush. Although my vote was for the English Yellow, because compromise, folks, that's the key to successful home projects when married.



The magical thing about Annie Sloan is that you don't have to sand before you paint. Dominic was super skeptical, but after watching this tutorial (and the subsequent tutorials) from Blue Egg Brown Nest, he was game to give it a go.



He painted while I photographed and occupied the kidlets. And over the course of two evenings, he whipped out this beauty ...

The basic routine was ...

Clean and dust

Remove hardware

Paint a layer or two, until the desired thickness is achieved

Dry overnight (although it doesn't necessarily take that long)

Distress with sand paper if desired

Wax, we did one coat all over and two coats on the top



But really, I'm no furniture restoration blogger so just watch the tutorials :) The only thing we didn't follow was the dark wax on tutorial #4, but that all depends on the final look you're going for. Bottom line is, Annie Sloan paint is awesome, don't fool yourself and try to skimp on cheaper paint. Annie Sloan makes Pinterest dreams possible! So much so that we already have two other pieces ready to Annie Sloan in the garage - one of which will be Barcelona Orange! Keep your eyes peeled over in my internet space, That Mama Gretchen, and I'll be sure to share when it's done!

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