I have always wondered what the correct way is to say Ombre. In fact I go out of my way to not say it - just in case I say it the wrong way (which I think is pretty much any way I say it). Omber? OHM-bruh?
Om-Brey? Who knows - I just say "You know when you have the color that goes from light to dark?" and pretend that I just can't remember the right word. It's kind of funny considering how much I love the look - on furniture, on the wall, in the garden, even for a cute summer hair look. This wont be the last project I do this way - I have a wall and one other project in the works, and by in the works I mean I think about it every time I walk by...I just need to pick up my paint brush and do it...
Have you ever seen something and just thought “I have to do that”? I do – a lot. Of course I can’t actually do everything I see, find or pin – I just can’t figure out how to get that water slide from my bedroom to the pool I don’t have yet… but every once in awhile I find that one project I can do right now. This time it was a dresser. In fact it was this great ombre dresser from one of my favorite blogs, Young House Love. It's also Project #230 in their book, if you want better directions for how to do it right. I am sure you will see lots more projects inspired by them. When I saw the dresser they painted I became obsessed. I knew I wanted a new dresser for our master bedroom and the ombre look would be pretty cool, but dressers are farther down the to-do/buy list than things like a kitchen sink, cabinets or flooring. Yes, I was living without any of those for months (around 18 months actually). However, I wanted to do this NOW not someday and I was in luck - Eric had to work late for a few weeks which meant no house projects and free time for me. So I decided I wanted to paint the dresser during that time.
I looked at resale places, online for cheap dressers for sale and on Craigslist. Nothing in my price range or the style that I had in mind – Bummer. Then I started wondering if any of the dressers I already owned could be used - and that’s when I remembered my sad little wood dresser shoved into our spare room with lots of other things we haven’t unpacked yet. We’ve had it for over 10 years and I can’t even remember where it came from. It was plain wood – no stain, lacquer or sealers that I could tell. I pulled it out and measured it – fingers crossed that it would fit the spot I needed it to. To my surprise it did, and I started to see the finished project and decided to go for it. Then I had to wait…for 3 more weeks until that free time when Eric wouldn’t be home. I wanted it to be a surprise. Obviously I couldn’t hide that I was doing something, but I didn’t want him to see it until it was done (or at least mostly done).
After cleaning all the dust off, I filled all the scratches it had gotten over the years, then sanded and cleaned it again. Once it was ready, I quickly primed it, hoping it would dry before Eric came home. Not to be – he came home and saw the dresser laid out. He thought it should stay a wood grain, but it was too late since it was already primed (oops...that may have been my plan all along). I kept how it would be finished as a surprise for the next night.
Our master bedroom has teal/navy blue walls, with white, grey and yellow accents and I had left over grey paint from our dining room, so I decided to use that with white to create the paint gradient. I knew it would be impossible to match the colors so I made a little extra of each one to keep for later touch ups. I painted the outside and bottom drawer the original color, Darkest Forest by Dutch Boy. Then added white to three jars until I had the right color combination. I managed to apply two coats of paint before Eric got home. He was really not sure what he thought of the different colors – and since they weren’t laid out in any pattern, I know it was hard to tell how it would look. Once it dried overnight and I put the drawers in, he was surprised by how much he liked it. I was originally going to find new knobs but decided after a week or so to try painting the knobs to match – definitely the winner for me. This project cost me nothing but a few hours of time – gotta love a free project that helps get your house organized. Did I mention this dresser replaced a box and a pile on the floor? We have had this dresser in the bedroom for awhile and it still looks pretty good - I just had to find a tray for all the random pocket things to go on. I still hate folding but at least now I have something pretty to look at when I'm putting everything away.
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