Paint it Brown

I recently decided to paint a small thrift shop dresser brown. I've painted a lot of furniture mostly shades of off white, taupe, and my most adventurous choice, a soft butter yellow. Dark brown was unchartered. I didn't want it to look like I was going for "wood" and missed and I couldn't find any examples to base my decision on. But truthfully, this little dresser couldn't get much worse than it was. The original finish looked like someone tried to stain it dark and something went horribly, horribly, wrong. I'm embarrased to admit I paid $50 for this little treasure and even more embarrased to admit that its mottled finish held some shabby chic appeal to me for a time - not that I ever thought it was beautiful, but rather so ugly I kinda liked it. Anyway, it is a nice, small size and serves well for a nightstand as it has drawers for pjs, and for the magazines, books and other sundry items that always seem to be cluttering my bedside.

I did this project before I started this blog, so I do not have a picture of it in its full glory, but I think you can get an idea of the finish below. The handles were black hand-wrought-looking iron - the typical Colonial Revival look.

Brown is a hard paint color to find the perfect shade of - some are too yellow, some too red. I finally settled on Ralph Lauren's Edwardian Burgundy from Home Depot. For about $3 I purchased the sample/tester container. The samples only come in eggshell, so that is what I got, although I tend to prefer to do furniture in a flat finish and than wax with Butcher's Wax for a slight sheen. I used the cheapy sponge brushes for this project and did minimal sanding and no filling. I picked up a contractor's pack of brushed nickle bin-pull style handles at Target on sale for about $12.