Reinvention

A new look for my favorite old dresser.

I have had this dresser since I was a baby.  Over the years it has seen a lot of wear and tear; from childhood neon tanks and exploding prints, to my obsession with vintage t-shirts in high school, this dresser has seen it all.  Here it is before, in all its worn and torn glory.

After moving back to LA four years ago, I decided to schlep this dresser from my childhood bedroom and into my new Santa Monica apartment.  Now it tucks away my basic t’s, my vintage sweaters, and my favorite eco-friendly designers.  I thought that, after all this time, it needed a bit of appreciation after all it has done for me.  My mother, when I was a baby, had painted it and stained it to give it that shabby chic feel.  While this is a style I do love, I wanted to opt for something completely different.  I wanted to reinvent this piece.

Here were my reinvention tools: paint from Behr, a paintbrush, and new knobs.

A bit of the old and new; one last glimpse of the old dresser look with it’s new knobs on top.

I love this color from Behr called Slate Pebble.  I decided to leave it solid because I really wanted to showcase these handmade knobs from designer Kristi of Vintage Skye.  Her shop on Etsy is filled with these whimsical, one-of-a-kind designs and when I discovered them, I knew I had to have them.  I thought that mis-matched really reflected my mood; my love of design and embellishment paired with something simple, a long vertical key, a lone seagull, a bumblebee.  It was hard to pick out exactly what I wanted with over 200 designs to pick from; I was combing her shop for days to decide.

After painting the new dresser, I thought it necessary to leave behind one memento; four glow-in-the-dark stickers that spelled my name, stuck on there proudly when I was ten.  I remember that unique feeling of satisfaction that comes with branding something.  It was my special dresser, and no one else could have it.  And it still is after all these years.  I wouldn’t be able to say this if I’d decided to trash it one year in exchange for something from IKEA.  Sure, there are definitely better dressers out there, but this one houses many memories.  Instead of discarding it, I celebrated it.