Today’s guest post is from fellow DIY blogger, Blair Barbieri. Blair runs her blog, Pinspirational Projects where she tackles home decor DIY projects and more. Blair lives in Norfolk, Virginia with her fiance and her beloved horse Ellie.

Blair shared with us a fabulous dresser refresh – she used a custom mix of Annie Sloan paints including Old White, Aubusson Blue & Provence.

“My sister was kind enough to give me her childhood dresser that she no longer could fit in her guest room…for free,” said Blair.

“It was a beautiful solid wood dresser but was just dated looking. The top was also scratched and one of the tracks for a drawer was disconnected, which I fixed using a new screw and wood glue before I got started,” said Blair.

Here is a before photo of the dresser.

Blair had a plan in place before she tackled this project, “I knew I wanted to go with the wood tone on top and use chalk paint on the bottom. However, I thought that this dresser would look great distressed in a shabby chic look that is so easy to achieve with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and wax,” said Blair.

Blair’s first step was sanding down the top with a hand sander since the top was being restained. The rest of the dresser did not need to be sanded since that is the magic of using chalk paint. Blair used some stain she had leftover from another project.

“It took about three coats of stain to get it to the color I wanted and to cover up the scratches that I had sanded out. I usually like to give the coat a day to dry in between since I’ve been burned in the past with stain not drying completely. Always remember to wipe down about 15 minutes after applying the stain. Better to use more coats to achieve the right look than to have to start all over again if the stain won’t dry,” said Blair.

Blair then sealed the top of the dresser with a coat of polyurethane for protection and durability.

With the top complete, Blair moved on to work on the bottom of the dresser. She taped it off using painter’s tape, removed all of the hardware – Blair planned to replace the hardware as the existing hardware was broken and dated. Blair removed all the drawers and taped them off around the edges to ensure the drawers would have a nice, clean look when the drawers are opened.

Then Blair made her custom chalk paint mix, “I mixed a custom blend of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint using roughly 1/2 Aubusson Blue, 1/4 Old White and 1/4 Provence, all of which I already had on hand. It took about 2.5 coats to get the coverage I was looking for,” said Blair.

Once the paint was dried, Blair started to distress the piece. Using a sanding block and regular sand paper, she worked her way around all of the edges of the dresser and drawers. You can see how this brings out both the stain that is below the paint and also the natural wood tone. This gives the piece a lot of character, like its been loved on for many years.

After distressing, Blair sealed the entire dresser with Annie Sloan clear wax using a wax brush. Once the wax was dry, she buffed the dresser with a rag to give it a nice sheen.

Then, Blair added some oil rubbed bronze handles that she purchased at Lowe’s that bring out the darker top and darker distressed points.

Here is an after picture of the dresser.

 “I love the way the dresser came out. As you can see from the pictures, the dresser is sitting in my dining room. I don’t have a garage or basement or anywhere that I can work on furniture. So for now, the dining room is it,” said Blair.

Here are some detail shots of the dresser.

We love the look of Blair’s dresser and we love that she got so creative and made a custom chalk paint mix. See more of Blair’s projects and Pinspirations on her blog!

If you are interested in learning more about chalk paint, we still have a few spots left in the March paint class, register for it here!

If you have a project you’d like to submit, email it to us at press@stylishpatina.com!

The Skinny:
– Purchase chalk paint and our other paint lines and supplies here.
– Sign up for March’s paint class here.
– Be sure to stop by ROUGH LUXE this weekend! There will be sale items!