January 9, 2015
I saw this dresser on Pinterest (you can find me @estiverhenson) and I knew I had to make one for my Little Cowgirl. And I thought, “This will be great! I can do a fabulous tutorial on my blog and tell everyone my expert advice and creating lovely things!”
Turns out - I am not good at doing tutorials! But I can do a fabulous what-not-to-do-torial! So have fun learning from my mistakes!
Lesson #1 In the what-not-to-do-torial - take a before picture. Seems obvious enough huh? But when I am excited to get started I just go for it! By the way, the dresser was white with cute flowery handles. And SEVERAL layers of paint under the white. The previous was a garish blue and looked like there was a yellow/orange before that.
Lesson #2 - do not expect help sanding. Oh, you’ll hear a lot of promises of help. But trust me when sandpaper meets paint layers it’s all going to be your own elbow grease making it happen.
But I digress, and I did get the old paint off and the new paint on. This was good. No too much sweat!
I had photos on file of barrel racing and let my Cowgirl pick her favorite. I printed it up large, in black and white, and on regular paper.
I decided to modge podge the paper to the dresser. Everyone who has ever done any crafting has heard of modge podge. How hard could it be? I’ll just slap some on and it’ll stick and we’ll be good. No need to practice, right?
Lesson #3, if you are not familiar with modge podge, practice. I think I was finally getting the hang of it after the last drawer. A little practice may have done me a lot of good. Modge podge is sticky and unforgiving and not my friend.
Lesson #4, when using modge podge, I would recommend finding a place out of the wind. It seemed like a clear day, but as soon as I got the sticky stuff out a pesky breeze blew lots of dried grass, dog hair and dirt right into my project. But I did get the photo stuck to the front of the dresser and the modge podge dried hard and clear. Which brings me to…
Lesson #5, Do Not Leave the Drawers in the Dresser While Waiting for Modge Podge to Dry! Hind site this seems like a no-brainer, but hey, what can I say, except, learn from my idiocy.
The drawers where stuck. Stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck! Did I mention stuck? Yes stuck! I tried cutting them open with a scalpel, I tried pulling them open with the drawer pulls, I tried knocking them open with the edge of the porch… Not much worked. To tell you the truth I don’t remember what finally did it, but finally I got them open.
I added some “antiquing” with a dry brush and brown paint, and got it up the stairs to Little Cowgirl’s room. It is now full of clothes and functional. She loves it. It looks pretty good from a distance: you can’t see the bubbled modge podge picture, chipped paint at the drawer edges from where I pried them, and the handles that are cracked from trying to pull stuck drawers open.
But hey, it’s done, and I learned so much I am able to share with you. And I will be prepared next time! And there you have the first Barnyard What-not-to-do-torial.
Here the next pinterest project I am going to try. Those bulls better keep bucking! Or they will be invited to the dinner table, in more ways than one! This Chair is available online at hay needle.com.
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