Model Your Before and After Project

I saw Mimanne's instructable "Purple Ombre Dresser", and was motivated to use the method on a dresser I had found at a garage sale ($10). See it here: ( Purple Ombre Dresser).

It looked like a fun project and the old dresser needed resuscitation! Chance would have it that on my very next dog walk around the neighborhood, someone had left out the night stand to be picked up by anyone who wanted it. So...I had two pieces to do.

Step 1: Take an Old Dresser and Night Stand

The two pieces of furniture were of good construction so needed little repair work, if any. I did have to sand the drawers on the dresser so that they would slide more easily and not jam, and had to glue one drawer back to it's original position. Other than that it was just a matter of paint prep. I didn't include steps on painting procedures as I'm sure all are capable of those technicalities. The usual prepping and painting tools were used to clean, sand, wipe with tack cloth, etc. I bought one quart each of two colors, the paint being Sherwin Williams blue commodore, and white. To mix the colors, since there are 5 drawers, I used 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 measure of blue and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 measures of white, respectively, to get the graded ombre effect.

Step 2: Two Old Pieces to Renew

Before and after photos speak for themselves. The wood knobs were painted the original dark blue, the brass parts just needed cleaning and polishing.

Step 3: My Model

Actually, before I started to paint, I had the idea of making a scale model of the dresser (I have made minature furniture for doll houses before), and then painting that piece in several different color families to see what they might look like.

Step 4: How I Made It

This only took an hour or so...using the table saw, I just cut the pieces necessary as shown, then assembled the chest of drawers with a hot glue gun. Very easy.

Step 5: Paint and Choose

Using craft paints, I made the dilutions according to the scheme seen in step 2, above. Obviously, any combination of colors can be used, depending on the effect wanted. I ended up choosing blue as noted.

Step 6: Dresser and Night Stand Painted

The results are quite impressive, don't you think? Thanks to Mimanne for the idea, it was a fun project to do!

Step 7: A Happy Pair!

'nuff said.