Glamour Princess Pink MCM Painted Dresser
This poor abandoned old Mid Century Modern castaway dresser didn’t see a Glamour Princess Pink makeover coming. I didn’t see it either until I chose to use the Redesign Décor Transfers® – Chatellerault. Its wide open spaces of the front and sides called for something big.
Design As I Go
It took a few days of sitting and staring at it to come up with a plan starting with color selection. The plan took shape as I painted – kind of like trying on clothes to see what looks good. More and more embellishing took her to new glamour heights. I threw a bunch of design techniques on to this piece: carnival stripes, paper clay applique’s, stenciling, Prima Marketing transfer, and shimmer highlights. The ones not on it are glaze and shading.
First came fixing the defects from the thrift store staff dragging it across the parking lot! That was an unbelievable sight! A little wood filler did the trick.
It turns from pink to tan as it dries.
A coat of oil base prime prevents possible bleed through and especially it’s important painting a piece white.
I painted the front and sides of her white (the light color), thereby making the pink stripes (the darker color) easy to add. I applied a barrier coat of High Performance over the white paint and allowed it to dry. A topcoat provides a barrier for Frog Tape to prevent the white paint peel off. Even then, a little white paint peeled but I fixed it easily. I use a dry brush to paint stripes. It produces a shabby look that I like.
With the brush in hand I decided to create more glamour by painting the top and bottom surfaces a matching coat of pink. That’s called design on the fly.
I applied another coat High Performance on all surfaces and allowed it to dry before adding the transfer. I totally love the look of transfer design over stripes. So cool!
Blooper Turned Bombshell
The two top drawers were bland and empty looking, so I added a stencil design to them. The way they turned out was a total screw up that I don’t mind sharing. My aim was for the middle of the two drawers, but I had set them in the wrong order by mistake. Frankly, I didn’t even consider it. Number 2 was in the 1 position and visa versa. I love my mistake! I think it is much better looking that what I had in mind. I may do it again on a different piece on purpose.
Now for the hardware . . . the original drawer handles on the bottom are pretty cool. They were painted white and then got gold highlights around the edges. It looked so good, I kept going to highlight all the edges and corners of the dresser.
I found adorable knobs at Hobby Lobby that look better with detailed back plates so . . . I made paper clay appliques, let them dry then painted, added gold highlights and glued them on.
How Many Labor of Love Hours?
I don’t usually count the hours for a make over. A typical piece might take 4-8 hours of actual activity, not counting the dry times! Miss Glamour Pink Princess took at least 10 hours over a few days. Prime coat, making paper clay appliques and stripes are the most time consuming. I love it all.
Check the For Sale Page for availability for your sweet Glamour Pink Princess bedroom.
