The Purple Boho Dresser

This dresser got a major makeover. The top of this dresser was in pretty rough shape when I bought it. It needed quite a bit of repairing. The drawers though glided so well, which is always a bonus when working with older pieces.

I love scrolling through all the paper on Spoonflower and when I saw the purple flowered paper (that is on the top part of the dresser), I decided the dresser would be purple and I needed to incorporate that paper with it. So the paper started it all rolling.

The Imperial Garden transfer is darker colors so that is the one I chose as I knew it would work with purples and blues.

I first did all the repairs, then gave the dresser a good sanding and cleaning, then it got some primer. I painted a base color too on the top, before putting on the paper. The paper I applied using wall paper paste. I actually asked my husband to help me. IT is good to have help when you are laying down paper on a big surface. As he was holding the paper at a certain angle, we were able to lay it down slowly and I could press it all down firmly with a paper presser. It is best work slowly. Then you want to press everything again, and get out all the extra glue and get rid of any bubbles that are still there.

The first coat of paint was a dark gray called graphite, by Annie Sloan. Then when that dried I used Amy Howard paint called Aubergine. I did a couple coats of that. I then started the blended and drip method, incorporating Orchid in with the Aubergine, and spraying with a water bottle. It is hard to explain this blending and drip method. I will be doing a tutorial on this soon so it is best to wait for that tutuorial to come out in order to understand. You basically want to paint and then spray, and you let the water drip down. I let those coats dry and then I brought it Modern Masters metallic paint, Venetian Blue and did the spray and drip method with that blue. I only used that color in certain areas. I let the paint sit for a couple days before applying the transfer. It is always a good idea to let paint sit 24-48 hours.

You want to plan out your transfer - how it is going to lay down, on your piece. Once you have that all figured out, get your first piece on there - that is the most important piece to get in the right position as all the other pieces after that are connected and your first piece start the whole pattern. Leave the backing on the transfer right up until you are ready to adhere it. Take off the backing and just start pressing with the stick provided. You want to rub all over, making sure the print is transferring to your piece. Lift up the plastic sheet to check to make sure it is working - peel back slowly to check. Do this the whole way - if it is not transferring then rub more until it does. Do this for the whole section. Then move on to your next pieces you are using. Once the entire transfer is on, take your fingers and a dry soft cloth and just rub over it all to make sure everything is laying down flat. **Lots of how to videos on my YouTube channel.

Once the transer was all on I then brought out the Modern Masters Pharaoah's Gold and put that only in smaller areas - what I call blobs, and spray, and let that drip a bit. I also did that with some of the blue. The gold added just the right amount of brightness. I then also did these little blob and drips of paint on top of the transfer, in some areas.

*A good water bottle to use is the misting kind - you can get them on Amazon or Hobby Lobby*

I let all that sit and dry and then put on the adhesive transfers. The adhesive transfers require foil and that is what gives them the shimmer. I used those on the sides of the dresser. I used the Modern Masters dead flat varnish as the sealer over everything.

And that's it. The best way to learn how to do the blending and dripping is just to go for it. It really is something you just have to do and practice. You are basically just playing around with paint and water until you like what you are seeing.