Before:

After:

Two things I learned repainting this dresser:

1. Ask the paint guy at Home Depot to add primer to the paint.
2. Drawer pulls are not standardized. I wanted to replace the original pulls, but couldn’t find any that fit appropriately.

I’ve had a few people interested in doing the photo gallery, so I just wanted to post a few more tips and instructions.

I printed my photos with Fotoworks. It’s a company in California that does professional printing. I highly recommend them. They do great quality work, and they’ll send your prints to you in the mail.

I bought the foam board from Hobby Lobby, the local craft store. I think I paid around $6 for a 36×40″ board. I cut the board with a rotary cutter and self healing mat. I’m pretty sure an exacto knife would work fine however. Just be careful and use a straight edge. You might ask if the store would cut the board for you.

Like I mentioned in the previous post, I used a spray adhesive to mount the pictures. But here’s where I’d do something differently. I recommend using an adhesive like 3M’s Photo Mount Spray Adhesive. I didn’t use an adhesive that was specifically for photos, and I had some bubbling. No good. I think using the photo adhesive would have solved the problem.

Also, when you use the spray, use a light, even coat. Too much adhesive will make the photos bubble as well.

Hope these tips help. Let me know if you have any other questions!

I’ve finally printed a few of my many, many pictures to display in our home.

I’m personally not a big fan of the traditional family picture galleries, with crooked, mis-matched frames. I also didn’t want to spend a fortune on 12 matching frames. Instead I had 8×8 prints made, cut a sheet of foam board, and mounted the photos with a spray adhesive. Because they are so lightweight, I was able to hang the mounted pictures with poster putty rather than nails.

It’s nice to actually have a few family photos displayed!

Here’s another wall covering idea for you. Instead of glueing wallpaper to your walls, make art out of it by haning wallpaper on dowels. Here’s a tutorial.

I bought this wallpaper in the clearance section at Wallpaper Warehouse. I thought the middle section needed a little oomph, so I stenciled the vine on the side.

Some tips:

Use thick dowels.
Cut dowels longer than the width of the wallpaper, then tie the cord to the ends of the dowels. Stapling the cord to the dowel was a pain.