How I Painted My Daugher's Dresser

About five or so years ago, my daughter decided she needed a pink room.  I was away on a business trip when she approached my hubby about it, and he agreed.  Pink it would be.  When I came home and insisted it be another color and we'd put a ton of pink in the room as a highlight color, I failed miserably.  So here were are, three years later, and the last thing she wants is a pink room. She's 14.   Time for a new room.  I saw this room on Pinterest as an inspiration room, and it's been about two years in the planning stages.  This holiday was the "alright, let's do it" stage.

Part of the plan included using the boys' old dresser and painting it black, akin to what you might find at Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware.  Hubby didn't think it would look right at all.  I went online and read what all the bloggers recommended, took a few cues of my own from failed painting projects, and redid the dresser.  I love how it turned out. 

I recently bought the boys new dressers, since the oldest boy is pretty much in grown up man clothes and half a drawer would hold exactly one and a half pairs of jeans.  My goal for their dressers are for them to have something to take with them when they move out.  My goal for my daughter's dresser (and room, for that matter) is to keep it all.  She'll have to go furniture shopping -- ha!

Hubby and I bought this dresser 14 years ago for $100.  It's a Sheraton style mahogany veneer and was in the boys' room until earlier this year. It weighs 7,473 lbs., which is why Hubby doesn't want to refinish it, because we will have to lug it back upstairs.  Some pieces of the veneer just didn't survive the boys when they were younger.  Some snagged on clothes baskets as I was lugging them into their room, some may have fallen off and used as matchbox car ramps before I ever saw they fell off.  So, before I get lectures about ruining good wood furniture, it was already ruined.

Original Dresser

 

I took the dresser apart (hardware off, drawers set aside, etc.).  I got together all of the ingredients needed for a good finish.  A sander and pads, TSP, foam brushes and a foam roller, Benjamin Moore  primer dyed "black" (it's really grey, but close enough), and Benjamin Moore Super Spec Low Luster DTM paint in black.

 

Ingredients

 

Then I sanded it with an orbital sander.  This was just to rough up the finished areas and smooth the wood ones, where there was missing veneer.  In the corners of the drawers where the veneer was chipped, I had to make sure it was sanded well so the rough spots would blend with the veneer spots.

Sanding -- notice the edge where the veneer was chipped -- I feathered in the raw wood with the finished wood

 

Sanded just enough to rough it up

 

 

Next step is to clean it well with TSP or a good TSP substitute.  Clean off all the dust and clean off the dresser.  Then wipe it all down with water and dry it well.

 

Clean well with TSP

 

Dry well with clean towels

 

Then it is off to priming, with teenie foam brushes and a foam roller.  Use a good primer, but here's the key that many don't seem to do online.  Get the primer tinted!  If you're painting black, the closest you'll get is grey.  I primed it well in two thin coats.  It's better to do two thin coats than one thick one. 

 

Fully Primed

 

 

Then you paint.  Again, use a foam roller and foam brushes.  The nappy ones add a texture you won't want. Brushes leave bristles in the paint.  I wish I had a painting booth because I'd spray with a professional sprayer, but I would never in a zillion years use a can of spray paint.  The finish is just not comparable.

 

Done!

I think this is much better!

 

 





 

 

Is Santa Real? The Mommy Wars.

My kids are past that Santa stage.  It's a little sad at times, but we have little neighbors who fill my heart with the magic of Christmas.  There is an ugly side to Santa, though, and it's making me bonkers.

I get so frustrated with parents who accuse those of us who choose to share the Santa story as being "liars".  It's one of the huge things in Mommy Wars, along with breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding and working from home vs. staying at home that really gets under my skin. Doing one vs. the other is not superior.  Period.

Here's the deal, folks.  SANTA IS REAL!  It is not a lie.  If someone asked me if my Grandma was real, I'd say a firm, "Yes!"  She was very real.  She and I bargain shopped for groceries, we woke early to scrub the kitchen floor, and she left M&Ms on her coffee table for us.  She is very real, still in my heart today.  If someone asks my kids "Is Peepa" is real?" they would say "Yes!"  They were never alive when he was, but they know every story, carry on some of his traditions, and have his sarcastic sense of humor, especially my eldest son.

"Mommy, is Santa real?"  "Yes.  He is real."  There is no lie there.

When they were old enough to figure out that maybe Santa didn't bring presents, and they asked the question that way, I fessed up.  I told them that I didn't lie.  Santa is real, just like Peepa, but sadly he died.  He had a tradition of anonymously giving gifts to the poor, sick, and needy.  He sold all of his worldly goods to do that, and he was a very rich man.  He is believed to have given three sisters gold so that they would have a dowry and could marry.  So it's our tradition to keep up his tradition and give gifts at Christmas to children.

How is that not real?  How did I lie?  And how are you telling the truth when you say he isn't real?  My kids who knew took pride in continuing Saint Nick's traditions for those who didn't.  And when my younger son asked the question, the whole family was disappointed.

Here's the thing, I know great moms who breastfed, and those who couldn't or chose not to.  I know great moms who worked out of the home, those who stayed at home, and those who worked out of their house.  I know those who didn't tell their kids the Santa story and those who did.  Since when did we have to declare our superiority because of our choices?  If you don't beat/starve/hate your child, I agree that you're a better mother than those who do.  These other things, though, really don't make you superior, they just make you snarky.

So, during this Christmas time, let's warm with our own traditions, share them with others, but keep our thoughts about what is best to ourselves.  After all, our choices may be best because they are for our families, but they are not the best choices for another one.

Merry Christmas!