Paint it Black

I’ve been looking for something to fill an empty wall in our living room since we moved in. First we tried our West Elm console table, but it was too high and too white, so we moved it to the kids room where it now lives as their desk. We thought about putting our new hutch in that spot, but it just felt like a piece that was more appropriate for the dining room, so that was out too. Then I remembered a dresser we had hiding in the garage and my mind started going. We had purchased this piece years ago (eight years to be exact) at the Melrose Trading Post flea market in LA. It was the first piece of furniture we bought for our baby-on-the-way’s nursery (that baby just started second grade!) and was a sage green color when it first came home with us (the dresser that is, not the baby.) I painted it white, laid down floral drawer liner paper, and filled it with little baby outfits.

Fast forward a few years and the dresser was showing it’s age. Paint was chipping (since I hadn’t bothered to sand or prime it the first time around) and the drawers were coming apart (no dovetail joints here) under the weight of the now not-so-little outfits that were being jammed into them. When we were blessed to inherit an Elfa closet organization system in the kids room at the new house, I happily left the dresser in the garage, earmarked for a future yard sale.



Sorry for the dark photos!



When my mind started to go about how to rehab this piece for the living room, I suddenly envisioned adding some feet to the bottom to give it a little lift and painting it a semi-gloss black. This time around I gave it a thorough sanding all around, and then found some short but detailed legs at Lowe’s that gave her just the right amount of height:

…and luckily the bottom of the dresser came equipped with four spots to drill them in to:

Here's the finished product, in its new home:

I love it! Not only is it a great landing spot for my keys and the mail, but it's the perfect place for this lamp and the drawers serve as convenient extra storage.

Now what to hang above it....?