Happy Friday, lovely friends!  I’m so excited to introduce you to another contributor to perfectly imperfect.  Please join me in welcoming Alison…I know you’re gonna love this makeover!
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Hello Perfectly Imperfect readers! My name is Alison Bryan and I am so delighted to be a contributor to my favorite blog. I am a vintage furniture painter and I just recently moved my home painting studio to a larger studio downtown in my city of Tacoma, WA. I like to think of myself as a “furniture stylist”, no two pieces I paint will ever look the same, and I have painted hundreds of pieces. When not at my painting studio, I am running around with my two little kids (usually with paint in my hair or on my hands). I am excited to share some with you some painting tips I have learned over the years.
On my blog, The Modern Cottage Company,  I share all my daily adventures. I was already busy redecorating my home and juggling life with kids. Now  I’m starting a furniture store.  But what I really love to share with my readers are my furniture makeovers.
Of all the makeovers I do, nothing beats a dresser. Especially pre World War Two dressers. Honestly, if I could make painting dressers my entire business I would be a happy painting lady.
I found this dresser at a local antique store and I scored a pretty good deal on it because of the condition of the knobs. It had also been sitting at the store for a few months so I negotiated the price down.
Before
{If you look closely in this picture you can see my messy studio}

The bones were good and aside from the missing knobs, it was in fantastic condition. The drawers all worked great {this is the very first thing I look at when purchasing a piece for resale} and there were no problems with the veneer.
In my studio I had a mirror just waiting for the right project . Since the dresser has a boxy shape, I thought  painting the fancy mirror to match the dresser  would make an all around more interesting piece.

I needed a soft and neutral paint color . Lucky for me I have an Annie Sloan distributor just a few blocks from my home, so I popped over to the The Design Cottage and picked out some  Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Coco.


source

I did a little sanding just to smooth the edges of the pieces and painted on only two coats of chalk paint. I then used steel wool and lightly distressed just  the edges of the pieces.

 For the knobs I wanted to do something unexpected. The color was so neutral I thought the dresser need some glam. I chose a craft door knob {I know it’s a weird idea but I love the unexpected chunkiness of this knob-Does this make sense?}

Unfortunately the knob screw that came with the knob was too shallow to use with my drawer front,  so I ran over to my local hardware store where a sweet gentleman helped me find just the right screw.  When it came time to drill a hole big enough for the new knob I made sure to use an extra large drill bit.
{Screw that came with the knob}
{longer screw}
{Aren’t the knobs fantastic?!}

I decided not to go the normal route to seal this piece. We all know by now that after you use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, you have to use Annie Sloan Clear Wax, right? Not this time. I decided to use a wipe on poly in satin {if I use a polyurethane, I like to use a wipe on poly instead of brushing it on}. The finished piece has just a little more of sheen to it because I used a poly instead of  the clear wax.

   This makeover turned out better than I ever thought  I almost didn’t want to part with it! I also love the way it looks in my shop and I just know it will go to the right home. They always do.

Thank you Shaunna for letting me share my latest adventure  with you and your Perfectly Imperfect readers!

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Thank you, Alison, for sharing such a beautiful makeover and tips here for us furniture-painting-fanatics!  Be sure to visit Alison over at The Modern Cottage Company & say hello!

Hope you have a paint-the-town-beautiful kind of weekend!