Birds & Branches Chests of Drawers

These two chest of drawers are another Deseret Industries find. You don't often find matching pieces there! They weren't bad as-is, but they could use some freshening.

These were both pretty dinged up, and the small chest was missing the top two knobs.


Last fall my basement was briefly painted a very pale yellow--I liked the color everywhere except actually in the basement! (Something about the evening light made it seem a little green, and my husband said he felt like he was sitting in the middle of a key lime pie). I decided this was a perfect project on which to use my leftover paint!

I painted both chests in the soft yellow, and then I glazed them both with burnt umber acrylic paint. I didn't bother filling any but the really big dings, so the glaze settled in them and gave them a more gracefully "aged" look.

I replaced the top two knobs on both chests with glass-look knobs from Hobby Lobby.

Did you notice my little stencils? I used my Cricut to cut out cardstock stencils of four different birds and two different branches. I didn't want anything too babyish or garish; I wanted these pieces to be able to "grow" with the girl I envision using them.

So the top of each chest has a bird and a branch of some sort, and the second drawer of each has a different bird.


These went home to a pair of 8-year-old twin girls!