Before and After: Serpentine Dresser

This is one of those projects that I knew almost from the start what I wanted to do with it. It was a $40 Craigslist find and came with this weird, ill-fitting mirror-turned-message-board thing on the top. Still not sure what I'm going to do with that. But the dresser had me excited.

I take that back. What got me excited was a lovely quart of my custom Robin's Egg Blue that fell out of the heavens onto my paintbrush a few months ago. The first victims I used that color on were just warming me up for this project.

Oh boy, do I love this dresser now.

I did a little bit of sanding and zero priming, then just went to town painting.



I love when I get to really distress something. My goal is always to make it look naturally worn, not sanded. I think this time it worked! Of course the brown glaze adds to the aged look.

There's an extra little surprise in the drawers. I couldn't resist an unexpected pop of color on the inside, too.

But really, it was necessary. The drawers were horrible looking. Someone had used this awful black caulk to seal the seams in every single one.


The bottom of one of the drawers was split and broken, so I had to rebuild that anyway and figured I might as well make over all of them. I imagined that lining the drawers with red and pink would look awesome with my blue, so I began searching for some drawer liner. Then I came upon this roll of wall paper at a thrift store for $3. And guess what- I didn't buy it! I don't know what I was thinking since it was exactly what I had in mind! Actually, I do know what I was thinking. I chickened out and bought a roll of safe white with a safe subtle paisley print instead. I almost immediately regretted it and went back the next morning for the fun paper.


Just like the twin nightstand, I LOVE this dresser. I want to keep it sooo bad. But I have nowhere to put it and I don't want to get rid of any of my existing furniture so that I will have a reason to keep it.

I guess I just need to buy a bigger house, that's all. :)