Lingerie chest gone wild...over the span of 3 years!

First off, I just have to say that getting this project and post done felt like I was 4 weeks over due with an already 10 lb/ 4.5 kg baby. From the time I bought this chest to the time I finished it took 3 years (on and off). It also took another 6 months after I finished it to actually get to posting it. It's my first and hopefully last transcontinental project. I don't have a before pic as I didn't have a blog back then nor did I know I was a DIY'er to think about documenting it. Just imagine an unfinished oak lingerie chest and there's your before. And here is your after...

 

Basically, it went down like this: I stared at it for about ayear thinking, what the heck should I do with it? Then a year and half later I started to doodle on a paper and came up with that design. I then began painting it one month before we moved to Dubai and even until the night before the movers came.  

I'll update this post soon with the actual sketches. I drew the design directly on the front of the chest free hand with a pencil first. For the side of the chest I took my sketch to kinkos Fed-ex blah blah, and blew it up, made a stencil out of it and then traced it to the sides. My sketch was too intricate so I didn't want to risk doing it free hand directly on the furniture. Finally I painted the whole thing, but testing out color combos on paper to make sure it looked nice. Here are the action shots... 

 Great tip my dad taught me, use an ice cube tray for colors. It holds more colors 

and gives you space to mix colors as you like.

colors I used:

AppelBarrel: 

Antique White

Bright Yellow

Orange

Pumkin Orange

Spring Green

 Americana:

True Blue

Turquoise Blue 

Berry Red 

Festive Green

Delta: Tropic Bay 

 Folk Art: Clover

Some of these colors can be found in Dubai, but all these were purchased at Michaels in the USA.

 

My dad, an amazing artist, helped me out during his visit last winter

 It was easy to scratch off the paint if I made a mistake or didn't like the color.

 

I paint like I write, real artists, please don't cringe. Girl gotta do what a girl gotta do!

 Wouldn't be authentic if the kids didn't help...

 ... and make custom colors (o:

 One of two stencils. I'll update soon with the other sketch.

 As you can see, I didn't cut out the design in the middle of this stencil,

but it did help me eye-ball where to draw.

 

 Turning out nicely me thinks (o: 

 

And back to the final product. 

This was an unnecessarily long, but fun project. And I love it especially because it stores all my scarves. The small drawers are perfect for short stacks of scarves and last deep drawer is great for my bigger chunkier scarves. Deep drawers are not great for light scarves and tend to get messy quickly. Soon I'll be posting on easy and practical scarf storage solutions. Would love to read your comments so leave one below. Untill next time...

-Debora