This is what willingness to visualize possibilities and a little paint, wallpaper and new hardware can do to an old dresser hidden

inside a dreadful paint job.

In the West guest bedroom, I wanted a dresser for guests that like to unpack their suitcases to have a place for their clothes. It didn’t need to be very large, so this smaller 4 drawer primitive one I found at the same occasional sale as the headboard (see West Guest Bedroom for under 250?) in this room, was a great fit.

When purchased, on sale for under $50 it was in a pale lavender paint color with fluorescent colored flowers painted on it. But the good part was it was totally sturdy, with the original little key hole hardware, although the handles had been replaced with some 70’s white painted knobs.

While at the building supply store looking for hardware, I found a clearance (less than $10) roll of vinyl wallpaper in this lovely old world design. It has a slight metallic finish to it. How perfect, prettier and faster to install than I could ever paint .

I finished the shopping trip with this hardware purchase, being careful to get the correct size backplates for the knobs on the two small drawers, since the previous hardware had double holes and I only wanted single knobs. And this dark antique bronze finish looked great with the paper.

I painted the frame, top and around the edges of the drawer fronts in the same dark brown as the headboard frame. The reason I painted the front edge (about 1”) of the drawer fronts is when I put the wallpaper on, I cut it to fit about 1/8” smaller around all 4 edges than the drawer front so that none of the wallpaper edges will hang over and catch and tear, so I wanted the little edge of the drawer fronts that wouldn’t be covered with the paper to blend into the frame.

I wallpapered the drawer fronts and side panels. Fortunately this dresser style was really perfect for this kind of treatment because it’s so square and simple, and the side panels that I papered are slightly recessed so the frame around protects the edges of the paper.

By looking beyond the lavender floral paint job, that tried to hide the possibilities of this dresser, the classic simple style and solid condition spoke louder and were the security to move forward and re-do it to fit in this Old World accented room.

Come see the link party I’ve joined at:

http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/