G’day lovelies!
Wanna see my twenty-five dollar dresser? Well come on down.
This has been a lovely project for me…I kinda started it on a whim after I hadn’t picked up a white paint brush for a while…and now I can’t stop again lol
Someone recently asked me why I liked to paint things white.
And I couldn’t really put my finger on it succinctly…it’s just what I like doing, not the saving the landfill stuff or even the vintage treasure hunting chase thrill stuff…though that’s good….but more just that this is something that I enjoy…when all the real crazy stuff is going on around me, white paint soothes all that…with a very busy life, the challenges of being a busy mum to three kiddos, one especially whose talents take me all over the place as chief taxi-driver and often leave me exhausted (but you don’t wanna read about that huh…who wants to read the trials and tribulations of motherhood on here? for sure not me)…doing this is just time for me to indulge…a bit like some people love to bake…
I don’t deny that baking a cake may be a bit easier for some though and certainly having to haul this into the back of one’s car, hide it in the garage for a few months, persuade one’s teenage son to help you move it and bring it in is probably more trouble than greasing a baking tin and sifting a few cups of flour…but for me…totally worth it.
Along the way though in this painting journey of mine I have taken radical steps to find a formula that fits in with said life of mother to three….these steps, come upon through trial and error now leave me with a strategy of attack that gets it done just as if I were baking a cake.
First off I nearly always bring things into the house to paint them…you will probably always find something in here at some stage of completion in some obscure place and there are always splats of paint on the floor…some people have asked on here when I’ve shown pics of pieces halfway done on dust sheets in my bedroom or Sitting Room, why I do it that way…I dunno, it just suits…
Second I always leave my decorating/paint clothes nearby…so if you happen to be walking past a house on the beaches of Sydney and look in the window in the middle of the day and see a rather odd scene with a woman in her undies slipping on her husband’s painting t-shirt, that would be me.
Thirdly I never start one of these bigger projects if I am too over-scheduled…each step needs a block of time set aside, it’s nice if that is a couple of hours, but often it isn’t, in reality, that long…. there is nothing worse than rocking up to pick up a kiddo from sport late in one’s husband’s decorating clothes with white paint all over your hands and lumps of it in your hair and bumping slap into yummy mummy in her Porsche 4 x 4. Yeah not quite the best look dahling. What you mean you paint things YOURSELF!??
Forthly I break it down into steps and coats…starts with the cleaning step…which I always try to do really really fast, ‘cos I am really really impatient…but have to accept that the basics here must be done….with a pouty lip of course…don’t do this step and you will have grimy bits of grit in your newly painted beauty
here’s how she looked before (you can find more details on the Dresser Before Post here)
and here’s the difference after painting one door
I always vacuum over…this is the quickest way to start off and removes grime from the crevices super fast…plus it scoops up any other dirt, cobwebs and grit that may happen to be lurking on your flea market find
Next I clean with soap and water and a bucket and then disinfect with Dettol, disinfecting is probably totally unnecessary if you are a real painter, but for me kinda essential.
Most importantly in the Beach Cottage Painting Things White Forumla For Success I will rarely rarely sand the piece before painting, I have swiftly ditched this step along the way…and it has never been to the detriment of the makeover..I just find doing this step adds to the complication and it’s not needed with today’s paint technology, perhaps I am a tardy painter, making excuses or more likely it’s the rebel in me eschewing formality…
Then I use each coat as a step…and depending on how long I have will finish up in between, remove the clothes and run out the door to the school run….to come back to it later nicely dried.
So what follows is two steps of primer, and then with this one there were three coats of enamel…it could have done with four if you look closely and for sure there are a few runs on this where I was slapping it on quite thickly…don’t do that, have more patience than me and go for nice thin layers…
If it’s getting a distress, which mine usually, though not always are, it’s best to wait a couple of days for the paint to cure and harden up…you can do it after the specified drying time but I always think it’s better if you wait.
and then the surprisingly fairly time-consuming, yet oddly rewarding step is the attacking with sandpaper on the edges
And lastly the fun bit…playing stylists with pretty, white and vintage things…
So, what do you think?
I’ll be off now, have to run, I am going for a run…;-)
See you again some time
Yours in white, love hearts, jugs, bottles, vintage cups, starfish, driftwood and pitchers
need some coastal inspiration?
Check out the new Beach Cottage DIY Ideas page…packed full of projects from me…a real girl with a real life in a tatty old cottage on the beaches
…ideas and inspiration to turn your thrifted finds and old furniture into Beach Cottage Chic
heaps of Beachy Coastal DIY projects !
shared at Thrifty Decor Chick thanks!
like the new Beach Cottage Coastal Facebook page here
I wish my husband would let me paint our furniture in the house. I’m pretty sure I’d get a lot more done. Are you doing any distressing on this piece?
x
Sarah, i adore this post. I had to chuckle about the yummy mummy and her porche. And I am a kindred rebel. I usually don’t bother sanding anything either unless I absolutely have to. And even skip the priming when I can, with Behr paint and primer in one. Love!!( They had me at “in one”) Oh and I thought everyone painted things in the house?.. No? …I usually use cheap plastic tablecloths that I pic up for 3 or 4 bucks for under stuff, nothing seeps thru. I keep them around for years in the garage. (Sometimes they make it easy to slide the stuff around on the hardwood too., and they never bunch up like sheets) Your dresser/ hutch came out so gorgeous. I love how you decorated it. Crazy about the white pitchers. I agree with you, I’d rather paint a piece of furniture than bake. I never was much of a baker.
I paint in the house too. Its just eaiser somehow…(although why I think that with two little ones running around, I don’t know) You did a really beautiful job! Thanks for sharing!
Wow, what a stunning piece! You really got a great deal on that beautiful dresser/hutch. Love all of the interesting things you have featured on it too. Great photos.
Wait, do you finish it off with a glaze or top coat of some kind? We’ve painted a lot of furniture in the past and for some reason things, of the decorative kind, stick. Thanks Sarah! As always your cottage is very inspiring.
thanks Tami…I don’t use glaze just enamel paint x
Thanks Sarah I have a piece just like this to finish and now I have a btter idea of how to start. Painting in the house, genius. Then I don’t have to worry about the rain.
Lovely! I paint everything white or blue and drag everything into my living room to paint too! Am always inspired by your home and very jealous of where you live!!
looks fantastic.
i have to agree with you, painting things white just makes everything around me more happier.
It is beautiful! I love painting things white as well. It just makes things clean, comfortable and happy.
This is gorgeous! i love to bake too though! hehehe :D
Sarah, I absolutely love this, it’s really gorgeous. It’s the exact piece that would have fitted into a perfect spotin my kitchen. I’m only just getting into the painting over wood is okay…must be something that went on in my childhood that to date has pevented me from ‘spoiling good furniture”!! I had to laugh at your yummy mummy comment as one day I did just that – went to school pick up (thankfully just the drive past pick up) in the worst old tracksuit bottoms covered in paint, hair tied up also covered in paint. My eight year old was mortified!
x
Looks great Sarah!!
Go girl….once you get a paint brush in your hand anythings possible. I love white on white on white…
Has the rain stopped in Sydney yet?
x Coty
no it hasn’t…so over it already!
Sarah, your Cottage is adorable. It looks like you have decorated it with alot of love. Your hutch you just painted and all your setups on it are so cute. I am from Tennessee and it is fun to see how you live through your blog. Oh yeah, your photos you take are awesome.
It’s beautiful. Just beautiful. I love that you created it yourself.
do you think my twins would enjoy a jolly good indoor paint????? They love it when the mopping bucket comes out…. so a bucket with white paint on my very dark wooden floors would be such a treat for them……. ;)
I know why you paint inside….. because then you avoid the dust/leaf litter/weird random airborne debris that lurkes inside a man’s shed/garage…. at least INSIDE your house is clean. Your new projects won’t get grubby! brilliant!!
We have the same sad addiction to pitchers….. I think I have those exact ones… plus about 10 glass ones. I love love love your new dresser and am envious of your wall space. Did you have to get rid of something else to fit it in??
Love it XXXX
Yes, yes, yes….I am another that finds sanding tedious work. I ditched it many pieces ago :)
Your dresser looks fantastic and fits in nicely to it’s new surroundings.
x
I love this!! Thanks for stopping by and the lovely comment! Have a great day. Anu
It looks great!!! I wish I had the space to paint inside too but alas I do not! Never mind… Loving that heart, I have spied it in other posts…
So so lovely!! Thanks for the play by play too :)
its inspiring me to get started on an old filing cabinet hiding under the stairs
cheers
I once lived in an apartment that was way to big for me, and I could devote a whole room to just painting. That was wonderful. (And honestly, painting did help through that hard time so I would definitely agree that it is soothing).
Some questions though… how long does it usually take you to make “one round”/one layer on a piece like the one above? I always find it takes longer time than expected.
Are you using water based paint all the time? If not, how do you remove stains? I would like to use oil based because it looks nicer, but I just hate cleaning with white spirits or other chemicals.
lovely Sarah, do you have a before shot?
here ya go Jo
http://www.abeachcottage.com/2011/04/a-beach-cottage-makeover-an-old-dresser-goes-white.html
x
Sarah, Nice very well put together i love how you did your display.
What a transformation Sarah! It’s very rewarding isn’t it…painting I mean. I’ve painted numerous house interiors and furniture…and although it’s quite a chore, once I’m psyched up I’m rearing to go. The clean up is always a problem for me though, especially when there are kids to be picked up from school and dinner to be cooked after a day of painting. I used to do a ceiling while I had a toddler napping…I don’t know where I ever got the energy from…guess I was a lot younger! Robx
It is just so peaceful to look and read your post…….. love those four gray bowls, I want them !!!
It looks great Sarah. I too picked up a dresser a few weeks back, but it turned out to be a little too big for my kitchen, so the hutch part now resides in the basement until we open the kitchen up. I hummed and ahhed on painting it, but it has such a beautiful old (and I mean really old) pine patina, that I just couldn’t do it. In an ideal world I would have acquired a nice little number like the one you have here! Lx
It looks great! I love painting furniture and just finished a couple of pieces myself that I will be posting soon. I painted an ugly little cabinet the most gorgeous pale blue…your cabinet looks really pretty! have a great day! :))
hey sarah- gorgeous- and so satisfying for you i bet!
the last styling bit is so worth the hard work isn’t it!
just thought i’d say g’day as thinking of you and some other lovely blogging gals in Oz whilst i’m hanging bunting by the washing basket full all round this big ol house and garden…
suns out…
england is shining and tomorrows the big day…
we have a garden party for my littlest one Audrey who is 6 tomorrow- she’s so happy to be having a Royal party!
melissa :)
The comment about the changing made me laugh. That is exactly what I do, change my clothes to take my son to school and get back home and change in the kitchen, all the while hoping my neighbors are not watching. Great job with the cabinet.
Sarah- Do you ever use milk paint? I want to paint some chairs but don’t want to use stinky paint? (I’m trying to go as natural as possible due to asthma.)
Sarah, Just loving your discipline with all your neutrals!!! I’m a neutral gal, but every time spring is on the cusp, I journey into some pastel territory and always return to the simpleness of whites and tans…I’ll try and leave my pastel shades to the flowers! :) Thanks, as always, for such lovely inspiration amidst our crazy lives. :)
This is so beautiful! I love whites as well. White is such a calming color, isn’t it?
-Merry
Well, it’s gorgeous, of course – as is your lovely styling!
Kacey
You are quite the stylist Sarah!!
Looks beautiful!
“and see a rather odd scene with a woman in her undies slipping on her husband’s painting t-shirt, that would be me.” LOVE THAT! I’m in a white paint kick right now too! It’s just so clean and crisp! and so lovable!
seriously thinking of painting my ugly brown piano…crazy? i dunno, i just cant stand looking at the poor thing any longer.
Love, love, love this! And so kind of you to detail and tell how to!
Im crazy about your style and your blog and your sweetness!
I adore whites too!
xo
Deborah xo
Hi Sarah,
I have finally stopped lurking around your blog- which I just LOVE and have become a member!
I wanted to tell you that I too have the very same dresser as you! I bought mine at an op shop for $ 125 which I thought was great value.
I too have to paint everything white- love your styling and aspire to have a home like yours.
Thanks
Di
hey Di, welcome out of Lurkdom x happy painting x
Hi there sarah
what kind of paint do you use when you are painting the walls, furniture and floors
I use regular emulsion Sonya, thanks
Hi Sahra,
Thanks for that, but sorry what is regular emulsion , do you mean normal semi gloss paint like dulux?