Change of Plans {The Blue Wallpapered Dresser}

I finished this project a while ago but am finally getting around to writing about it.  The hazard of having two young children is time seems to disappear right before your eyes! 😉  I got this dresser from an estate auction for $1.00!  For some reason no one wanted the poor thing.  It wasn’t much to look at but it was sturdy and made completely of wood so despite the fact that I hadn’t intended to bring home any furniture…..the dresser came home with me.  Here it is in it’s original faded blue paint.

Originally, I had intended this little guy to be for a boy’s room.  It’s multi-purpose desk/dresser nature and the navy paint I picked out had me planning on fixing it up fit for a little pirate!  When my mother-in-law saw the dresser and the paint and decided she had to have it for herself so my design plans had to change.  Instead of pirate’s gold accents we went for fields of gold flowers!  I picked out a vintage wallpaper from colleenabean on Etsy that matched the navy blue and had the yellow flowers my MIL wanted.

I used an exacto knife to cut the wallpaper to size and a spray adhesive to help it stick in place.  I decided not to use the paste on the wallpaper 1. because the paper is vintage so the glue might be worthless and 2. because wallpapering is a mess!  The spray adhesive worked just fine.  Before showing the after pictures I must add that I was not impressed with the paint I used.  I used Medieval Blue by MyColor inspired by Pantone.  My fist issue was that the paint painted on streaky.  Despite mixing the paint well it dried with variation in the color making it look blotchy.  My only guess is that the built in primer was somehow separating and leaving lighter and darker streaks.  I had to put 3 coats of paint on to even it out and I still wasn’t 100% happy (mainly because the finish also ended up a little shiny and I tend to prefer matte…oh well).  When I sanded to add I little dimension again the primer aspect was a problem because now there was a layer of white which was visible when sanding.  Sometimes the layered effect can look nice but it was just too much so I repainted the top again to downplay the stark contrast between the navy, white (unplanned), and light blue layers.  All in all my mother-in-law was quite pleased and that’s what is important…and…I love how the wallpaper turned out!