About the Paint

So after I applied a coat of primer I took a break and headed over to my local Lowes to check on the paint (and buy more primer - ugh who knew I needed so much!)....

Anyways... Andrew and I thought a lot about the color we wanted this dresser to be... the biggest determining factor was the final location for the dresser... I originally wanted to use it in the basement family room as a media console... And I thought a nice turquoise would work... but then I thought maybe in our guest room (since it is empty - aka NO furniture) and that it could be a bright red... but ultimately we decided that it should be used as a sofa table in our main family room upstairs and that we wanted something more neutral.

I thought this would be a good time to try something exciting like a metallic color! Lowes has a collection called "Brilliant Metals" that I found a pearl-y color that we both liked.

But when I went to buy the paint I realized that the price and work involved is INSANE! Okay... well, for a dresser that cost $40 I am trying to keep this a bit more economical! Here is the breakdown for the Lowes B.M. paint:


1 gallon of "Base Coat" : $33.00
1 gallon of Metallic Top Coat: $47.00
1 Metalic Roller: $5.00
---------------
Cost of painting: $85.00!

Yikes! Thats double the price of the dresser itself!

So I panicked... and left...

Then I thought about it a little more... a gallon is more than enough to paint the dresser and then some... maybe I could stencil the guest bedroom with this nice metallic neutral... but the process is prohibitive... you have to paint the base coat and then 2 layers of top coat a DAY later... that would take forever with the stencil!

PASS....

So the next day, after Andrew woke up (works nights - so it was 5pm) we went to the local Home Depot... On Sunday they stay open later AND we just got a gift card to HD so off we went!

I love our Home Depot paint department... there is one lady there who is always super helpful and she was working - it was perfect... as soon as we walked in it was like she could sense we needed help... So I showed her the paint swatch of the Lowes Brilliant metal paint and what look we were trying to achieve and wouldn't you know it - Martha also has a metallic line... which just so happens to be replacing Ralph Lauren's line of paint which is currently on CLEARANCE!!

The R.L. also works differently from the Lowes version - the R.L. has 2 options, a silver base or a gold base - which has the tint added to the metallic base of your choice... none of this double coat nonsense! I grabbed the last 3 quarts they had, 2 silver {which we had tinted} and 1 gold {to be tinted at a later date}. They were $3.00 EACH! Omigosh! The regular retail for a quart of metallic paint - regardless of brand - is $19 to $21... so this was a HUGE score!

I don't know what the color we had it tinted was, but I will double check and update with final pictures soon!

Laura