(Please, if you love this image as much as I do, click over to her site to pin it!) I loved the curls and swirls on this dresser, and thought that a white  and gray color scheme would work perfectly. I didn't need the texture of the chest, just the pattern, so I settled on stencilling a pattern.  But I still wanted that polka dot look combined with the curlacue pattern. Not your typical stencil look, let me tell you. I had to make my own stencil, and I used my trusty Silhouette Portrait.

My stencil material is the same I used on my living room pillows, which is basically a heavy-duty page protector. The stencil design was an image I found online of a curlicue I liked. Then, I used the rhinestone function on the Silhouette Studio. This function is supposed to make a guide for rhinestones to be applied to a shirt (and I honestly don't know much more than that, having never used the rhinestone part of the program other than right here). But what it did for me was convert the curlicue into little circles, which was exactly the look I was going for. 

Now, if I was going to go for perfect circles, I might have looked at spacing out my circles a little more, but I liked the idea of a little imperfection and bleeding—which is what I got. My inspiration is handmade, with little inconsistencies, and we wanted a little bit of shabby chic going on in my girl's room. After all, if you live with kids, starting out with imperfections is a good idea, since heaven only knows that things are going to get a little beat up before everything is said and done, and I'd like to think that it was on purpose.

I was excited to try out Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. (I actually started this project before the nativity set I did with chalk paintlast Christmas, so this huge dresser was the first project I started with this new medium. Go big or go home, right?) I selected Pure White and Paris Gray for my paint colors, and I used clear paste wax for my finishing. 

I knew that there was a chance that the stain might bleed through the paint, but since the casing of the dresser would be the Paris Gray, I gambled that it wouldn't be too bad. It took 2 coats of paint on everything, but I got the coverage I desired. I then stencilled the drawers and lightly distressed the corners and edges, down to the original stain, and then I waxed everything. I won't lie, there's a learning curve on the wax, too, but I think it all worked out ok.

There was one finishing touch that kind of stumped me: what to  do with the hardware. I wanted something beyond the ugly brown knobs that were on the original piece, but I didn't want to pay $5 per pretty knob if I had 18 knobs! That would mean  Then, I realized that the hardware wasn't oil rubbed bronze gone terribly wrong—each piece of hardware had been painted with a brown paint.

I stripped the paint off using hot white vinegar and some elbow grease. I found under all that paint lots of 70's era brass. I knocked off the sheen a little with a high grit sanding block and then painted the outside edge with Paris Gray chalk paint. I waxed the knobs, too, and now they have an understated elegance that fits perfectly with this slightly distressed dresser.

All in all, I spent around $90 for paint and wax—my only cost for this beautiful piece. I have no idea how much Yvonne paid for her (much smaller) chest but I'm guessing it was quite a bit more.  And in case you were wondering, Lil Bit loves it!