Linda, look at the annie sloan website for chalk paint. She has historic colors and you can determine if you are ready to paint these or not by looking at the sort of country / rustic effects you can get. That is one of the easiest products to use as a novice. When you do buy, 1 quart = 1 gallon in terms of coverage - you get much better coverage with chalk paint.

How about chalk paint to transform all of the pieces? Minimal prep required, and holds well to finishes. You could go for a modern country B&B vibe.

What color would I paint them?

Frankly, I would paint them cottage colors to go with the soft pastel bed covering. If you type in cottage furniture in google it will show you soft yellows, blues, greens, off white. A combination of those colors would look great in your bedroom.

Change the knobs on the drawers to large wooden ones.

I would:

paint the bed in a bright color you like: red, turquoise, yellow, magenta, purple. blue, green

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use chalk paint for the night tables in the blue or the green of the comforter

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leave dressers alone

paint mirror same color as the bed.

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pretty colors moacometlady

I am just afraid of putting too many pastels together...I don't want it to look like a little girls room.

I think the chalk paint colors can be a lot more sophisticated than pastels. Let me bring you some ideas that work with where you want to head.

For the tallboy and the dresser, the primary finish / last coat before wax or poly - i think country gray . . http://www.anniesloan.com/acatalog/Country_Grey_profile.html

this would be even better layered over some aubusson blue in the crevices / carving / edge work http://www.anniesloan.com/acatalog/Aubusson_profile.html

For the nightstand - olive

http://www.anniesloan.com/acatalog/Olive_profile.html

both your green and blue suffer from only having one tonal expression in the space - by using a deeper blue gray in the "rubbed edges / antique underlayment" of the larger piece (you can dry brush these just after the top coat dries - or wet your brush pull more of the top coat if it goes on a little thick) and a deeper olive on the nightstand, the bedding seems to all work and the country charm of your wrought iron begins to make sense . .

inda, then your best bet is to paint the night tables white, or sand them and stain them expresso.

libradesigneye....love your ideas! When can you come over?

ha ha ha . . .thanks linda .

here's what i found when i used annie sloan . . i didn't need to buy nearly as much as I thought to cover . . (i did a sideboard with paloma and french linen on top), so even though it isn't a small price for a small amount, it goes a lot farther than regular paint. I didn't even use a quart and did some other projects with sample size pots.

librdesigneye...guess thats a no! LOL....do you have any pics of the chalk painted
sideboard?

used to but not in the memory on this machine - will take another and post soon - unless you reside in san diego . . and pretty near a school that plays lacrosse . . i'm afraid my free time is booked by my middie / spring sports season!