Inspiration - Where Does It Come From? French Dresser ... Part 1

One of my readers recently asked me where my inspiration comes from for the things I work on. Well, for the most part, I get ideas from things I see.  Pictures from magazines, books and Pinterest are great motivators.  I'll see something and think.....ooooh I like that.  Or, sometimes I just want to try a new paint or new finish that someone has recently done on a project because it looks neat.  Or, maybe I have piece that is old and calling out for a makeover.  

So I thought I'd take you all through the process of finding some inspiration and making the inspiration come to life.

Here is my inspiration for the next piece I'm going to be working on.

I was at the bookstore about a month ago and found this picture above in Annie Sloan's book creating the French look.  The colors on the chair and the side table called out to me.  I love the worn look with the distressing and dark wax.  So of course, I was on the hunt for a side table where this would work. Do you see the little pops of blue peeking through under the grey.....?

Enter ugly green dresser.

This is a very old dresser that I found on Craigslist that was in very bad shape.  So bad, that I really shouldn't have bought it, but hey - I'm always up for a challenge.  I had visions of how I was going to turn this into my new little french side table.

When buying an old dresser.  My advice to you is to make sure it is in good shape.  Make sure the drawers work and that it is in fairly good condition, or you may be spending a lot more time fixing and replacing things than you intended.

Once sanded and ready to go I started with a blue paint.  If you look at the Annie Sloan finished picture above, you can see that once the piece is distressed, there are peeks of blue coming through the grey finish.  If you want that to happen, the blue needs to be your first layer.  I used Napoleonic Blue, which is really more of a navy - except when used on a bright green paint.  :)

On top of the green, the blue turned out to be much more vibrant than anticipated.

I actually thought the green and blue was very pretty and almost went into another direction (I get side tracked easily).  But I stayed tried and true and put another coat of blue on and then painted this in a Paris Grey and Old White.  I used Annie Sloan Graphite for the top.

Are you starting to see the transformation?  Amazing what a little paint can do.  Be with me tomorrow when I take this piece to the next step.....distressing and waxing.

Hope you have a great Wednesday!

Paula