I have had this picture in my mind for over a year! I knew I wanted this look in my home and when we decided to fix up our main level and staircase, it all came together. The foyer. Black and white with that awesome kelly green. Done.
So, I took two of these Ikea Rast dressers...
...and turned them into this:
The first thing I did was find the color. This is literally what I did:
Yep, I matched my cords to the paint sample. Behr's Pine Grove. I bought a sample pot, tried it out and wa-la! That was it. Perfect. I painted two coats of the glossy paint and followed that with two coats of glossy poly. I know this piece will take a beating so I wanted to protect is as much as possible!
Edited to Add (Oct. 2013): The pine knots are beginning to bleed through. I should have primed them with some serious primer and THEN painted. I used paint with primer but it wasn't strong enough. Learn from my mistakes, people!
After I painted the dresser, I needed to install my awesome campaign hardware from Ansaldi & Sons (product 6071). I thought it was kind of funny that the hardware actually cost more than the two dressers! Crazy, huh? Just shows you how pricy hardware can be!
Now, you have to know, I am notoriously BAD at installing hardware. It's never level. The holes never match. I get mad, walk off in a huff, and leave it to the hubby. But this time I was determined to do it right! And I did.
The first thing I did was find the center of the drawer and "mark" it with a piece of painters tape:
The great thing about using painter's tape is that it didn't take off the finish and I was able to use the same piece for all six drawers. Score.
After I found the center of the drawer, I created a template:
I needed rather large holes for the hardware but getting a large drill bit to give me a precise measurement hole never works for me. So I took the time to use a small drill bit to start the hole and followed up with the larger, correct sized drill bit. Definitely worth the time!
Once that was done (times six), my dressers were complete. (Or so I thought.)
It's really hard to tell from the picture. But they looked like midgets. My foyer is two stories tall and they were just too short. Luckily, I knew I could order some legs on Ikea. So that's what I did. First, I had to build a base for the dressers since there was nothing on the bottom for me to attach the legs to so I had to remedy that situation.
Here's the base. I just used a couple pre-primed 1x6s and kreg jig to put them together:
I painted the parts that would be visible and then simply screwed the base into place. I also screwed the dressers together so the whole thing would be sturdy. After that, I attached the legs. (Spray painted gold to match) I cannot tell you how easy it was to attach the legs. I really wish I would have taken pictures. But trust me when I say I'd recommend those legs any day of the week!
And here is the final, final product:
And that mirror? I love it. If you remember, I found it when I went thrifting a few months ago! I didn't mean to copy my inspiration quite so closely, but it totally works! And the lamps? Target. The gold accessories? Target. I simply LOVE Target! The elephant is a treasure we found at Animal Kingdom last October. Lastly, since the dressers were not level on top, I remedied that situation with a piece of glass cut specifically to size. I used Binswanger glass and they were awesome. The price was really reasonable and their turn-around time was good, too.
I decided not to put on the corner brackets that sort of help define a piece of furniture as campaign. I kind of like the minimalist look. I'm afraid if I attached the gold hardware it will overwhelm the piece because it's not very big. Who knows? Maybe some day I'll change my mind!
One last time:
I'm just thrilled with how it turned out. It adds the pop of color I needed. If you hang tight, I'll do a full reveal of my foyer and the stairs. The stairs are just now getting trimmed out and they will be DONE! It only took four months:)
Edited: I'm linking to Miss Mustard Seed!
