My Friend's Knock Off

My bestie Maria moved from New York to Georgia a few months ago.  She and her husband bought their dream house and have been busy redecorating it.  Not only are they painting and decorating every room in the house, they also tackled a couple of furniture re-do's for the first time.  They came out so cool that I told her I had to blog about them.

For her very first re-do, Maria found this small cabinet at a store and loved it, but it was over $200!  This was not in her budget and had to pass it up.

She has always been a creative person, so when she found this dresser at an antique mall for $30, she knew she could transform it into the inspiration piece.  (I also like to think that she may have been inspired by me and my furniture re-do's)

First her husband filled in the original hardware holes on the top drawers and then spray painted all the drawers an almond color.  He spray painted the rest of the dresser black. Maria made a glaze of dark brown paint and glazed the drawers to darken them and give that worn look.

She bought a couple of stencils to create the words she wanted on the drawers.

She didn't want to do one letter at a time, so she made the entire word by cutting apart the stencil and taping it together.  When she needed more than one of the same letter, she actually cut her own.  This way she could do the whole word at once and not worry about lining up the letters or having to wait for one letter to dry to move onto the next one.

Doesn't it look fantastic?!  She is using it under her TV to hold all the components and the drawers will hold DVDs and things.
  
She is so proud of herself (so am I) that she was able to customize a piece of furniture and pay way less for it.  She is really looking forward to creating more pieces.

Linking to:
Too Much time On My Hands
Six Sister's Stuff  
Life on Lakeshore Drive
Craft-O-Maniac
I Should Be Mopping The Floor  
Homemaker on a Dime
Debbiedoo's
Coastal Charm
Kammy's Korner
Kathe With An E
Skip To My Lou
Cozy Little House
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Today's Creative Blog
Elizabeth & Co.
Sugar Bee Crafts
{primp}
The DIY Dreamer
Savvy Southern Style
Southern Lovely
Vintage Gwen
Fluster Buster
Nutmeg Place
Embracing Change
House of Hepworths
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Beyond the Picket Fence
Miss Mustard Seed
The Shabby Nest  
I Gotta Create
Lovely Crafty Home
Redoux
Sassy Little Lady
Funky Junk Interiors
Six Sister's Stuff