It’s always so exciting when a baby is on the way. Our family will be growing in the next few months. Take a breath because I’m not the one who’s expecting. ha! My sister-in-law is expecting their first baby soon, and as far as we know it’s a girl. This new babe will give my 6 kids another cousin to play with, and someone for us to adore and love.  As a gift to my SIL, I offered to refinish a dresser for the baby’s room.  As it turns out, she had already found a dresser style on Pinterest that she loved and was hoping to replicate. Now we have a furniture makeover in the works. woot!
I’ve got to be honest that I had no idea how awesome this whole furniture makeover would turn out.  You see, this month’s themed makeover has the subject, “Inspired By” – meaning to redo a piece of furniture in the styling of another piece we’ve seen on the internet, movie, etc.  I had NO inspiration because I have NO time to peruse such frivolous things like other blogs, Pinterest, and… what’s a movie??
As it turns out, I was thankful to not only be able to give my SIL and her husband this gift, but also to fulfill the themed makeover quota. (she giggles wickedly)
LET’S BEGIN
Enter in this gorgeous aqua blue dresser by Sharon at Lilikoi Joy. Â You know me and my Craigslist love, not to mention that it’s aqua! (My entire blog post about that color here – yes I LOVE it).
MY PROJECT
I don’t know about you, but that serpentine style is one of my favorites (I’m talking about that wavy look to the front). Â Swoon!
Although this dresser needed some love, it is such a well-built antique and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. After doing a much needed wood putty treatment to the cabinet, I grabbed my best friend, orbital sander, and went to work. Â It was hard to not want to yank all that paint off and restore this beauty back to it’s original wood state. Â I mean, we’re talking solid oak with a grain to die for.
HARDWARE
Once I had given the dresser enough “teeth” for the paint to adhere, I set out working on the pulls. Â It was such a shame that only one of them was damaged and we couldn’t put them all back on. Â I normally don’t paint solid brass, but since the inspiration dresser had a painted chrome finish to it’s pulls, I went with a brushed nickel paint by Rustoleum instead. Â Ouch…I painted antique brass….gulp. That’s a new one for me! Â deep breath. Â I mean, just look at those escutcheons. Â So dainty and ornate.
PAINT TIME
On to the fun part. Â My SIL was hoping to use the exact same color that Sharon did, but since I already had a similar color in my stash that I used on my Mid Century Modern makeover. My $7 seconds paint wins again! Â I brushed on several coats to the sides of the cabinet and drawers. However, I am using a foam roller to get a nice smooth finish to the top. Â Yes, it’s that time of year, when snow flies and my house fills with furniture.
THE REVEAL
Here it is! Â What do you think?
Before you head off, I want to invite you to go check out all these other fantastic “Inspired By” creations by my blogger friends. Â It’s fun to see the initial inspiration as well as the reproduction.Our last few themes have included:
Until next month’s theme!
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Also, want to see another furniture makeover? Check these out:
How nice that you did this piece from her childhood. I love the color and the lines. So pretty!
Love it! I love these style pieces, so beautiful!
Debbie
Sharon’s dresser is one of my all time favorites!! Yours is equally beautiful! 🙂
Nancy
I really love this!!! It’s beautiful and one of my favorites.
Larissa, your piece turned out gorgeous!!! I love it! I’m so glad you were inspired by my dresser. Our dressers are definitely sisters now and I bet your sister in law just loves it. 🙂
Larissa it’s gorgeous! Your SIL must have been so thrilled to get her childhood dresser back completely transformed to pass down to her children.
Marie@The Interior Frugalista
So gorgeous my dear! You did a beautiful job!
Beautiful as always! How sweet that your SIL’s baby will be using her childhood dresser! I love that! XO
Thats fantastic! and I have to admit my heart lept a little bit when I thought you were announcing a baby..LOL What a sweet gift you are giving!
Hugs,
Karin
I love the color. It looks so great with the new life you gave it! If you lived here in Oregon I would let you use my huge workshop where I just moved. The previous owner, a contractor, had built it with insulation, lots of electrical lights and outlets, and big barn door opening! My fee would be work on a few pieces for me!
Love you piece better! The soft blue is stunning with the aged pulls. Fantastic! Jeanette
I like your piece better too. Great job. My grand girls are 9 months apart. I can’t wait until Christmas next year. Two under two and one four year old. Fun!
What a beautiful and heartfelt gift! I love your version and I’m sure your SIL will too!
This turned out amazing!! And how special that it gets to stay in the family <3
Ooh this turned out so lovely! Those handles are to die for, even with the new paint job.
What a beautiful piece! I watch your pretty pictures go by on Facebook and swoon…I am not a furniture refinisher, no talent there whatsoever, but boy, you make me want to be! 🙂
What a beautiful piece of furniture! I love that your SIL still had Her childhood dresser that her own child will now cherish. We can’t thank you enough for linking up to our party today…it means so much to us!
What a beautiful piece!! Love the handles too! Thanks for linking up to Something To Talk About!!
That is a very special gift for your SIL – I’m sure she will be thrilled!
Great piece! Love it…what a fabulous job. Pinned!
Larissa, Congratulations on your new niece on the way. I can’t believe you have time to not only paint but do beautiful pieces like this with your kiddos and family. That’s awesome that she has a gorgeous piece of furniture in her dream color and it was what she used as a baby. Love that. Thank you so much for taking the time to link up the Party too. xo Lisa
Gorgeous makeover! They are definitely related! Pinned!
Wow! What a transformation, you did a beautiful job and I just adore the colour.
tee hee. Thank you so much, Gilly. She was very excited to receive it and baby should be here in a couple of weeks! 🙂
You are truly such a talented artist!! Love the sentiment in this piece!
Awww…you’re too sweet! You made me blush. 😉 Yes, it was so fun to give the piece back to her and now we just await the arrival of baby.
Very nice! My daughter & I paint furniture also but haven’t made our own glaze. Does it matter if you use flat or satin paint? Thank you ?
Thank you, Linda. 🙂 It doesn’t matter the finish of the paint, just as long as you want the finish look you’re using. For this piece, I used a semi-gloss paint to glaze to match the semi-gloss blue I used. Hope this helps!
It is lovely. I love that you were able to use the original pulls and add some beauty with the substitutes for the broken ones!! Great job.