To handpaint or stencil, that is the question...

Once upon a booth, there was a dresser... It never sold. 😢
When a piece doesn't sell, it's kind of like a puppy not being adopted. 

But I couldn't give up on my dresser! I fell in love with her serpentine curved drawers, the beautiful wood, & the original caster wheels. (Every good piece has caster wheels!) So I scoured Pinterest looking for ideas to dress her up without painting her completely. I searched for 'two tone dressers', 'natural wood drawers', 'antique lowboys' & convinced myself I could jazz her up while leaving some gorgeous wood to peep thru. Here are some ideas that popped up:

 

http://missmustardseed.com/2011/04/cherry-blossom-dresser/

  http://thepaintedwillows.blogspot.com/p/before.html

 http://shabby2uniquelychic.blogspot.com/2013/04/mahogany-lowboy-dresser.html
 

I ended up with an idea from Miss Mustard Seed, the queen of milk paint.
Have you seen these designs floating around the Pinterest world? I love love love how it ties the paint together, yet lets some of the wood break thru. It's really a perfect compromise for someone who appreciates antique, but loves to paint. It is to me at least, AND apparently to Miss Mustard Seed herself!

http://missmustardseed.com/2012/07/hardware/

Now I hate to steal an idea, but I tried stenciling a previous project & was not impressed.
You have to deal with bleed thru, then paint reapplication & lining up the edges perfectly...enough to send me into an OCD mess. The dresser actually turned out pretty cute, but I would prefer not to do this again any time soon.

Here is my first attempt at a stenciled dresser, all pretty in pink.

And here is my before pic of the dresser that didn't sell. 

Poor baby...

So one day I said to myself, "Let's do this! Let's draw on a dresser!"  

And I did, because there is no stopping me once I get an idea in my head.

My research suggested using chalk first, THEN painting over top.

I'm not a fan of classic chalk so I used my chalk pen, which is really more of a marker. 

My husband was eyeballing me the whole process. You know, that look that says you're doing this all wrong. And hey, I wasn't too sure about it either. But when he finally said, "How is that paint going to stick over the chalk pen?" I replied, "It just will. I know what I'm doing. I saw this on Pinterest, k?"

And this is how she turned out ⇓

I am no artist, let me make that clear. But I'm really happy with how she looks.

As you can see, I made some very professional looking swirlies there 😄 I just swooshed my brush to add leaves to the vines, then added a bird formation 'V' in the center because 'negative space'. 

See, I remember some stuff from Bob Ross.   

What do ya think?

Are you on board with hand-painting furniture or are you gonna stick with stencils?