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Thursday, October 29, 2015

Emerald Green Dresser Makeover

A boring dresser gets a bright and bold makeover with emerald green paint and dark wax!


Emerald green and dark wax dresser makeover

I've always loved the look of emerald green, although the bright and bold color never jived with the cool blue and green tones in my home. That is, until now.  Adding our mudroom addition finally gave me a space to add a few pops of bright green into our home.  Lucky for me I also get to continue the color in my new office space (aka Studio).

Up until recently, I've been doing blog work at the dining room table, which isn't the best situation. So, a few weeks ago I decided to take over the empty space that will eventually be part of our kitchen.  I'll lose my studio space once we start the kitchen renovation, but until then, I'm making this a fun and bright space that is not only functional but inspiring as well.


 Chalky gray dresser before
You may recognize this dresser from when I updated it a few months back.  At the time I wasn't sure where it was going to go in our home, so I played it safe.
 Dark gray chalk painted dresser before
Well, there's no playin' it safe anymore.  This guy got a makeover and a major one at that!

Before I get to the after, let's take a look at how this piece looked before.

 Dated dresser before
Since the dresser was previously waxed, I did lightly sand the entire piece before applying my custom mixed green paint.
 Adding emerald green paint to dresser
 I ended up applying 3 coats of paint before waxing the entire piece with an antique wax.
 Dark antique wax
I actually bought this wax on a whim while wondering through Walmart.  It was only about $5.00 and I thought at that price it was worth trying out.

I used a paint brush to apply the wax then wiped off the access with a paper towel.
 Adding dark antique wax to dresser

A boring dresser gets a bright and bold update!
The wax toned down the bright paint and gave it the perfect aged look.
Bright emerald green dresser makeover

 Emerald green and dark wax dresser makeover

 Bright and bold emerald green dresser

A boring dresser gets a bright and bold update!

 Emerald green and antique wax dresser makeover

 Emerald green painted dresser

 Painting a dresser emerald green



The beautiful pop of green was exactly what my studio needed.  I've got a few more projects in the works for this space, then it'll be time for the full reveal.




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Would you like to comment?

  1. Love the new color, Katie! And the hint of dark wax is perfection.

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  2. Ahhhh, LOVE it! I've always loved emerald green, especially mixed with black and white which I spotted in your rug! So fun!

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    1. Thank you! I love emerald with black and white too! That's pretty much the color scheme of this space and I'm loving how it's coming together.

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  3. So, so pretty! Is the hardware new or were you able to salvage the original? It looks beautiful! What finish is the paint itself? Semi-gloss or satin? I also wondered about working with wax. Does wax give the piece that "slippery feel" like polyurethane does when you slide your hand across the top? Or is is more a "flat paint" type texture? I'm inspired to try something like this myself. Thanks!

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    1. Thank you so much Kris! The hardware is original. I just painted them to get rid of the brassy gold. I custom mixed the paint with what I had on hand. It's satin mixed with matte (the green was satin and the dark gray I mixed it with was matte). The wax gives it more of a matte/flat finished as opposed to poly. Here's the post I wrote regarding the hardware:http://littlehouseoffour.blogspot.com/2015/05/updating-hardware-without-spray-paint.html

      I hope that helps!

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  4. What a beautiful dresser!! Love the green color you chose!!

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  5. Oh wow! I was totally thinking as I scrolled - "it's so pretty in dark teal already, I don't think I like the sound of bright green"...but it is amazing! So beautiful! Bright, spring-like (which is nice as the days are distinctly gloomy right now, at least, in my part of the world!), stunning! And so lovely to keep something precious like that loved and in use.

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    1. Ha, yeah bright green can sound scary! I liked the color I painted the dresser the first time, it just didn't match the style of the space. The green definitely adds a fun surprise to the space.

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  6. Such a beautiful color! Pinning!

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  7. I LOVE the new color!!!!! It is totally awesome. And I never knew that Waverly had a line of wax. I will maybe have to head over to Walmart to look at that. I seriously love this. And your photos look awesome, BTW.

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    1. Thanks girl! I didn't know Walmart sold wax and chalk paint either! It's definitely worth trying out since it's so inexpensive.

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  8. love that color and wally world really wow, love your brownie and most of all i love you have a space of your own xx

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    1. Thank you! I know, who would have thought Walmart of all places.

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  9. Totally digging this color! I think it livened this piece right up. And your photos looks phenom!

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  10. So glad that you went bold on this! The colour is perfection! Thank you so much for sharing at Brag-Worthy Thursday and I love it so much I am featuring it on my blog!

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  11. This is gorgeous! I'm trying to figure out the easiest way for you to ship this to me...LOL. It is beautiful and perfect for my daughter who cannot get enough green. You make this look easy.

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