So my husband and I have been very hard at work on the nursery.  The first project I decided to tackle was this chest of drawers that I believe Bryce had in his room growing up.  It was in desperate need of some TLC, but I loved the lines of it and new it would be perfect to double function as a changing table.  

The color scheme for the nursery is lavender, dove grey, white, and gold.  The walls have since been painted “Ponder,” a fabulous grey/lavender by Sherwin Williams.  We nearly had a melt-down over some very FOUL smelling Eco paint but it seems to have since been resolved (my poor husband has already put on a total of three coats of primer/paint at this point with one to go to remove the smell).   

Now let me preface this before and after by saying I am by no means a DIY guru,  but every now and then I get the bug and can be very impulsive about starting a project.  Please, please, please excuse the terrible photos – my real camera currently has a broken lens. 

The prep work…yes, it was a game day, and yes, Hartley is proudly sporting her OU jersey. 

The first thing I do is sand the piece down with an extra fine grit sandpaper.  I selected “Nimbus Cloud” by Martha Stewart Living Paint in a flat sheen from Home Depot for the base color and start painting right away – no, I did not prime.  I used about a 2-1/2″ wide paint brush to apply the paint in even strokes.   

Coat one of paint goes on and I as usual start to panic (as I always do when painting furniture and only seeing the first coat).   I’m scared it’s too chalky-white.   

I decide to run to the paint store and I get a quart of “Dorian Gray” by Sherwin Williams for the top to give it some contrast.  I then apply a second coat of “Nimbus Cloud” to the entire piece and start to like what I see.

The next step is applying Rotten Stone to give the piece a more age.  I was nervous as heck to do this…I dabbed a mineral-oil soaked rag in the rotten stone and then wiped on, and then quickly off.  This took a while because I kept wiping too much of it off.  It is VERY subtle (impossible to see in an iPhone photo) but it really helped the piece not look so “flat”. 

I also found this gold wax stuff from Bering’s that I applied with my finger to “highlight.”  Can resist a touch o’ gold!

 So there you have it! 

I may even go back and add some more Rotten Stone.  I’m also still undecided about the hardware, but it works for now. 

So the following weekend (because I wasn’t tired enough) I decided to tackle our t.v. console with the same color but using a heavier hand on the Rotten Stone.  I love it!  You can see a before picture of my t.v. console here.   I had been dying to “neutralize” this piece for a long time but couldn’t decide how I wanted to refinish it.  Having left over paint in colors I know I liked sure made it easier.  I can’t wait to show you all the art work and vintage frames I’ve been buying like crazy for what will apparently be a gallery wall in the nursery since there is no real plan right now 🙂