A Project for Noah

Several months ago, Josh brought over a dresser/changing table for me to paint. Yes, I said several. I'm a procrastinator, ok. At first it took me a while to figure out how to get the paint to stick to it with out it just falling off every time something brushed against it. The finish was very smooth and slick. I knew there was no way I could just paint it.

My friend Dawn suggested a product called deglosser, or something like that. She does a lot of do it yourself type things. Including remodeling her entire kitchen, and it is beautiful!  I had Willie pick up some deglosser from Lowe's. I read the instructions. I put it back down and told Willie to return it. It scared me. When it said to wear protective gloves, apron, eye wear and mask, I chickened out.

I chose to sand it. That took a while. A really long while..... Ok, yeah, I'm lying. It didn't take that long. I had the dresser for a long time, I have to make up some excuse. SO, it took a really long time!

After sanding, forever and ever and ever! I covered the edge of the drawers with painters tape and primed them. This took another six or seven..... months, yeah that's it....  months.

Then I got to PAINT!!!! The first one I finished was the one with the elephants. It went surprisingly quickly. Errrrr.... I mean ..... Man it was a painstaking process that I never thought I'd finish!

I went with a momma, daddy, baby theme. I wanted it to be something he would still like when he got older. I stayed away from getting too precious.

The hardest part, for me, was convincing myself I could really do it. I still don't have a lot of confidence in my painting ability. I'm not sure why. Sometimes I think it is because it goes so quickly. It seems like it should take longer or be harder. (Oops, I guess I just hung myself. ) I'd get done with one drawer, be happy with it, then determine that it was a freak of nature that it came out ok. That I'd never get another one to look good.

 Then it would take me a while to find what I wanted to do next. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get it to look the way I wanted. I searched the internet looking for just the right photo of an animal family. I really only found once. The elephants is the only drawer that is off of just one photo.

The rest were a combination of several photos. The giraffes, I added the tall one. The penguins I used a different background. The whales, had a different background, and I added the third whale in. The wolves, I painted the background from memory, and used three different photos of three different wolves. The baby wolf was actually a brown one. I had to think backwards to get the shadows right. It was all so much fun! I think, even with using the different photos to make one painting, that they still look like they all belong together.

After the paint all dried, which of course, took days and days and days.......  I wanted to spray them with a poly finish. I wanted something to protect them.  I'm not going to lie, I was terrified to spray them. I was afraid that the poly would make the paint run and smear and ruin them all! Willie set the drawers up on his wagon, and with much trepidation and a short prayer, I sprayed. It really made them pop. The reds and blues brightened up and made the clouds behind the penguins come alive. The water on the drawer with the wolves shimmered. I was very happy.

 AND Dah Dah Tah Dah!!!! The finished product! Do you see how it goes from night to morning to afternoon to evening and finally to sunset. Yup, that really was on purpose!

And here's the little guy I did it for!