Before and After: Baroque-style dresser:

Moving into my first dorm room, I was stuck with a furniture dilemma most students will know: My decor was more or less a “best of Ikea”. (I guess that´s what happens when you move from the cozy nest of your parental home to a town 800 km away and buy all the stuff you need in three hours because your master-plan for saving money was getting the rental for only one day).

My generic surroundings made me truly crave an unique piece, something not to be found in about 54.9% of households worldwide. (Please, my dear Billy, don`t be offended! I still love you!). 

So imagine how happy I was when I encountered this beauty at the local thrift shop!

I actually kind of liked the original gold and green checkerboard. And though it can´t be seen all that well in this picture, there were some really cute embossings and red details. But the colour scheme seemed a little opulent and dark for me. 

Beside, the paint was really strange, waxlike, staining everything it touched and showing holes in places. 

So, every time I needed a break from memorizing definitions, I would attack the centimeter thick paint with a trowel for a couple of minutes. 

Once the mutant paint was all scraped off I decided on a blue color, going for a little shabby chic to bring out the details. 


 I painted it with standard acrylic paint (Since then, I have read that you are supposed to use primer, but skipping that did not hurt the end result in this case), I scooped up blue and white paint with my brush, so it mixed in the painting process, but not too perfectly. Once the wood was dry, I touched up the prominent details with white paint and attacked the planes with sandpaper and a screwdriver to give them some character. 

 

So here is my unique little dresser, giving my “made by Ikea” room a lovely touch of extraordinary.

I am linking to these lovely parties: