Just for Kids

I recently painted a dresser for a 2-year old named Henry who was changing rooms because of his new little brother, Alfie.  Aren’t those cute names?  Henry’s parents had me paint this dresser for his nursery 2 years ago.  It’s an old farmhouse style  that they wanted in red:

They are keeping it which doubles as a change table for baby Alfie and bought a small tallboy for Henry.

It’s maple and very heavy with solid wood drawers that weigh a ton.  I covered the whole thing with a coat of shellac because I have learned that that reddish stain used before poly finishes bleeds through paint, even latex.  Henry’s mum wanted 3 colours: navy, yellow and cream.  I was influenced by the wonderful furniture painted at Poppyseed Creative Living ( she is very talented) and created a colour-block effect.

The colours are Annie Sloan’s Arles, Cream and Napoleonic Blue.  I copied the colour-block on a few of the knobs and added the larger red knobs painted in Burgundy for an extra punch.  The hardest part was getting the lines straight.  I started with the drawers in the dresser and taped through the middle of the drawer where the holes are.  Then I lined up the lines on the side.  This required a measuring tape and marking with a pencil.  I do not have a straight eye, so I will tape on a slant without markings. When using light and dark colours, I would recommend painting the light one first then the dark overtop.  With this design there is a fair amount of overlapping.

In retrospect, I might have mixed the Arles with English Yellow to get less gold but I am happy with the result.  It has a wax finish which I like the look of better than poly and which is durable after it is cured, especially on something like a dresser.  I tend to use poly on table or desk surfaces but have found that wax  has worn well on all the pieces that are in my house.

 

Linking up with:

http://www.patinaparadise.com/2015/12/fridays-furniture-fix-20.html

Making Broken Beautiful | No. 18

http://www.mccallmanor.com/link-party/your-inspired-design-16/

http://piecedpastimes.blogspot.ca/

http://www.sadieseasongoods.com/snickerdoodle-sunday-link-party-112-end-of-year-announcement/

http://www.findingsilverpennies.com/2015/12/silver-pennies-sundays-link-party-and-features-149.html/

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.ca/2015/12/show-and-share-no-293.html

http://www.elizabethandcovintage.com/