Once upon a time... I painted an old crappy dresser for my two squishy bears :)

This "old crappy dresser" actually has sentimental value to me, it used to be mine when i was a lil girl :-) back then it was really nice, but time took it's toll and it was looking rather rough to say the least! i also made the mistake of letting my boys stick stickers on it, kinda like an everlasting sticker book, lol. bad mistake!! it just pretty much ruined it. i really wish i would have gotten a picture of the sticker stage but just wasn't thinking at the time, darn. you can still get the gist of how unattractive it was before the paint job ~>

 ~second drawer down had some issues, i had to wood glue that piece back on, psssttt~ ( i actually used elmer's) it works pretty much the same. ;-)

so, i had all kinds of ideas for this bad boy. i skimmed Pinterest for inspiration and was overwhelmed as usual! i decided i wanted to keep this piece one of a kind, something completely different than anything i'd seen. i want it to stay in my family, i want people to see it and know it was me that painted it. so i just went for it!

i used mainly acrylic paints & sample jars from the paint section at my local hardware store. the first drawer was sun, followed by sunset, starry night (van gogh inspired), then moonshine :)

*the sides of the dresser are fairy tale oriented. a castle w/ a fair maiden on one side & a dragon on the other (i was trying to keep it unisex/boyish) i sometimes have a hard time w/ painting things too "girly". 

*when looking for new hardware for the handles, i wanted to keep it really simple. i got a steal on these lil swirly handles at Lowe's. I really like that they don't take away from the paint job.

 *i added some character by dry-brushing the top and adding the "once upon a time" quote, kinda tied it all together i think :)

tadaaa! done! i did use a clear coat spray on the whole puppy to keep it safe & a bit shiny :) the whole project took me awhile to do (at least a month), mainly because i took my good ole time doing it, lol. but i really enjoyed it! it's for my lil guys and will hopefully stay in the family for a long time. one last thing i added on the back (sorta a secret message for my sons) but i don't mind sharing ~>

if that's a lil too dark for you, it's a quote from the famous tear jerker children's book,

"I'll Love You Forever" ~~>

"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be."

<3 mama bear