Measure twice, cut once . . .

Por: the satorialist | |

Things had been tripping merrily along on my dresser work, although weather and life contrived to set me back a couple of weeks, but no matter. The primer went on easily and dried quickly. The first coat of paint - a lovely caramel called "Weathered Wicker" - went on fairly easily (I cannot stress enough how important it is to buy the best brush you can afford. I did not, and my project suffered for it).

That's when I made my first mistake.

Bits of primer showed through my so-called one-coat paint. What I COULD have done was embrace this, maybe even play it up, and utilize a distressed look, which would be very appropriate for the vintage of this dresser. But instead, I decided to try and put another coat of paint on. I did several things wrong (please, learn from me, and then I won't feel so foolish). First, I was painting in a cold garage during a cold, wet spell of weather. Even with a radiator-type heater on in the garage, I was still teetering at the low end of the recommended temps for this particular paint, and it is best to follow those type of guidelines when they are provided by the manufacturer. Nor did I dilute/thin the paint, which may have helped. Second, I used my less-than-ideal, and now damp, brush. Third, I did not take the extra couple of weeks and paint each surface on the horizontal. I'm sure that painters more experienced than I would have no problem painting the dresser's vertical surfaces, but my lack of experience paired with the thickness of the paint resulted in some heavy drips and spalling that really bothered me.

The week after the second paint job, I was tired of the project and ready to be done fighting the paint. My decision was made for me when I realized the paint was too wet still to sand and re-paint any drips or gaps. So, I loaded the dresser and all five drawers (which I had painted on the horizontal, and which came out beautifully, if I say so myself, which I do) into my trusty RAV4, and headed home, more than slightly disgruntled.

Oh, that the screw-ups ended there! After letting the dresser dry for two weeks inside my home (the dresser in my bedroom, the drawers in my craftroom), I decided to apply the custom decal onto the drawer fronts. The old carpenter's maxim "measure twice, cut once" could easily be adapted in this case to "orient twice, apply once." After applying the decal to three of the drawers (and, I should add, it looks lovely), I realized I carelessly had the drawers facing the wrong way, and thus had applied the decals UPSIDE-DOWN. *sigh* and *double-sigh.* Even though I was able to correctly apply the decal to the bottom two drawers, the damage, such as it is, was done. I felt rather defeated at this point, and sat on the couch for a while to bemoan my stupidity.

After several minutes of vocal self-beratement (I'll spare you the language, but suffice to say, it was deservedly harsh), I contacted decalfarm on Etsy and asked them to make me the same decal AGAIN, this time without the last three words (since those are correctly applied). Applying the new decals will be easy, and it isn't an expensive mistake (the decal will run me about $20), but removing the upside-down decals, without damaging my new paint job, will not be so easy. I've not yet decided if I should let them sit a week or two for the paint to dry longer, before I use my hair-dryer to heat and oh-so-gently remove the decals.

Wish me luck. I'll post pictures soon.