Recently, I asked you all to vote on your favorite color for the nursery dresser. I received so much feedback on Facebook and the blog (thank you!!) but alas there was no clear consensus as you were all pretty much divided across all the options. Naturally, this left me more confused than ever.

I decided to do a bit more research online, and came across many many DIY bloggers raving about Annie Sloan chalk paints. What I learned was that a) chalk paint is thicker than regular paint and adheres to furniture without requiring sanding or priming b) it’s easy to apply and dries fast c) it can be sealed with a clear wax to protect the furniture from nicks and prevent the paint from chipping. I read some more and saw that a lot of people have been creating their own chalk paint mixtures using paint, unsanded grout and a bit of water.

I was sold on the idea (technically, they had me at ‘no sanding and no priming’).

Seeing as how the Annie Sloan paints were a bit pricey and that I wanted flexibility in the choice of color. I first decided to try the do it yourself version.

For those interested, I followed this recipe from Momtastic.

I first removed all the drawers:

That’s about all the prep I had to do, lol. Next up, I prepared the mixture using a light taupe paint color that I got from Benjamin Moore (sidebar: I wonder if they have a loyalty program… I practically live there) and painted away.

The chalk paint mixture went on VERY easily and left a very even finish (no streaks or brush strokes). But…unfortunately, I wasn’t happy with the color. On its own, it was nice, but it was way too light against the soft peach wall color. I needed something with more of a contrast.

So….I ended up switching gears and splurged on a can of Annie Sloan paint. Not because the DIY chalk paint didn’t work well, but because I found a color that I thought would be perfect for the nursery: Choco. It’s neutral, taupe-ish, and dark enough to contrast the walls but complement the vintage brass handles.

Take 2. This time, the color turned out wonderfully. Again, the paint went on very easily and dried so fast that I was able to start painting the second coat within 20 minutes of letting the first dry.

Once the paint was dry, Adam applied two coats of the clear wax (not safe for preggos!) and buffed it after each coat. FYI – we followed this useful video tutorial from the Simply Reinvented blog. Seeing as how we’re novices, we found this step a bit more difficult than it looked. We made sure not to put too much wax, as the tutorial suggests, but we noticed that the wax looked a bit blotchy in areas. No matter how much we buffed, it didn’t seem to improve. So we decided to just leave it as-is and consider it part of the dresser’s “character”.

As a last step, we installed the brass handles, which was a nightmare of its own because of course I bought handles that had to be inset into the wood – fun times for Adam and his routing tool. Not really.

Finalement, we have le dresser.

A final look at the before:

And after: