Big Bertha Dressed In Turquoise

I promised a ‘big bertha’, and now I present Big Bertha!  My word, this ol girl almost embarrassed herself by not fitting into my Mazda 3 hatchback.  I had to give her a subtle lecture about diet and nutrition, because she is... big and chunky!  Almost 7 feet long and definitely over 200lbs (sorry Bertha, but disclosing your weight is for your own good).  Eat some lettuce.

I clearly love this shade of turquoise/teal, because I have used it a billion times now.  I use it so much that my neighbor stopped by for a garage-chat the other day and asked ‘are you still painting that dresser?’ I paused midstroke and threw him a puzzled look before stammering, ‘No, I finished that one months ago, this is different one.’  I was too ashamed to tell him I had done about five other ones in the same colour in between the one he was referring to and this one. 

He is also the same neighbor who when I told him I rescued a beautiful credenza that was bound for the dump (this post), asked me if that was the colour I received it in (I had painted it the same shade of turquoise) implying that I hadn’t done anything to it yet!  Men.  They just don’t appreciate a nice shade of turquoise.  I did take a dose of pleasure a week later by complimenting his turquoise shorts and quipping that he matched my furniture.  He may or may not have blushed.  He may or may not have got my point. But I had a little inward swell of vindication. 

But back to Bertha!  She was in great shape for such a hefty girl.  I custom tinted some primer before covering her up in my favorite colour. 

The hardware was beautiful in it’s grandness, but it was very dull and dark, so I blasted her with some gold spray paint to really amp up the contrast with the dresser.

 I did some heavy distressing to reveal the lovely dark wood – a little peek-a-boo.  I also accented with some light blue piping and a touch of yellow to tie in with the gold.

The cupboard opens up to reveal three more drawers which I finished in a turquoise/navy chevron paper for a pop of fun.

I love big-bertha, but it will take a big room to handle a statuesque woman like her.  She is too much women for my little hallway, indeed!


Linking up to party with:

miss mustard seed

Distressed Turquoise Buffet Dresser

UPDATE!  I was grumpily sipping on my coffee at 7am yesterday when my bleary eyes turned on 'Candace Tells All'.  A double take was in order because I thought this dresser below was making its new home in one of her clients living room.  It took me a good 3 seconds to determine if it was in fact my dresser.  It wasn't. Sigh. How neat would that have been.  The dresser she was using was so similar in both style and colour. Good taste Candace!

 

 

You know it's a good day when you stumble across a piece of furniture you love, only to find out that it is.....FREE!!  I scored this gem at my favorite re-store just when she was about to be loaded onto a truck bound for the dump.  Naturally I flapped my arms about and gestured over to the my trunk - open, willing and spacious.

I have been missing my turquoise lately, having been doing a lot of whites and other colours.  So this was my chance to dust off the lid of my favorite shade of turquoise and work some magic. 

 I did a couple of base coats and then I brushed on some yellow and cobalt accents.  They don't come out too wonderfully with the poor quality of my camera phone - but they are there.  I assure you. ;)

I love the legs on this dresser.  Very grand and statement making.

You can see a bit of the cobalt and yellow in this picture.  If you squint your eyes.

 A bit of the heavy distressing can be seen in the close-up shot below.

That's all for today.  Have a nice one.  

I remembered to snap a before shot of this one.  

Striking Turquoise Dresser

If you have looked through my blog, then you have seen a very similar piece before, ok, maybe even two.  I just love raised detailing on dressers, it adds such interest, especially once it is painted out.

I have a lot of natural light on this dresser, so it looks 'I need sunglasses' bright.  In reality it is quite a deep shade of turquoise, mostly blue, but with a subtle shade of green as well.

I left some of the wood to poke through on the detailing to add some depth.  I also did a bit of accenting with white and yellow.

The hardware was in really bad shape, I thought I was going to have to spray paint it, I started to give it a light sand so the paint would have something to grab onto, when I noticed it started to sparkle underneath.  It was quite magical, I just lightly sanded and in the process polished up the hardware.  This pic below shows the after and the before.

Turquoise End Tables

Ah Turquoise.  My favorite colour.  Sigh.  I was lucky enough to find these guys a couple of days after I found their big sister (see my earlier post).  I finished them in my favorite colour :) and distressed and let some of the wood poke through.

I made a custom chalk paint for these, and finished with clear wax.  It buffed to such a lovely sheen.

Bermuda, Bahama, Come On Pretty Mama - MCM again!

Im gonna be blunt here.  Bahama did not live up to her name when I first cast eyes on her.  She was ugly, she stunk like a cheap hooker who smoked too much, and she was scattered in pieces.  Literally. She was on the floor of some guy's garage all shewn about in smelly disarray.

It didn't take me long to figure out why.  Her drawers were a maze, all nine of them.  She was one of those finicky little pieces that was designed in such a way that each drawer only fit into one slot (despite the fact that they all seemed to look the same).  Mr. Chuckles, the owner, and me, all spent about 10 minutes crawling over each other like a bad game of twister trying to fit Bahama's bits back into her chest so we could pack her up in the hatchback.

If I had been handing over money for her, I most likely would have politely said 'no thank you', turned on my heel and quickly scuppered off, but she was a freebie, so I just couldn't say no.  We strapped her into the car and brought her home to my salon for the big makeover.

Having a stamp on her backside that said "Bahama" inspired me to paint her a bright, tropical colour. I settled on a turquoise blue (suprise, suprise!) contrasted with pure white.

I like the way she turned out, for some reason she makes me want to go bowling. She definitely has a 1950s vibe about her.

Stunning Column Dresser

I was lucky enough to find the long dresser and the matching night stands for this.  I painted them in a corresponding fashion using my favorite turquoise with ASCP florence underneath.  

I love how the green peaks out beneath the Blues.  I did a fair bit of distressing on this to let the wood poke through.  I changed out the hardware as one handle was missing off the original and I couldnt find a match.  I like how the gold contrasts so well with the turquoise.

Miss Shabby

I was inspired for this piece by Mak & Jill's website and a piece they called Shabby Shabby.  I named mine Miss Shabby.  She was a curbside find and had a bunch of gunk stuck to the outside of her, but structurally she was pretty good.  

  

I opted for some heavy distressing to create a really country-rustic feel.  She is two-toned white and turquoise.  

I changed out the hardware, buying these cute vintage pulls.  I did a light dry brushing with white.

I think she looks lovely and is now being used in a young fella's room.  I guess we should call him Mr. Shabby now. 

Superbly ornate 6 drawer dresser

I fell in love with this piece when it cast its sad eyes in my direction.  Located in a dusty old used shop, it was brown, dirty and old,  it was instant chemistry.

I gave her the usual overhaul, and I just love how lovely it turned out.  So big and so bold!  I think the hardware is so cool. She is a blue turquoise and features some distressing to show the awesome wood through.  I love the texture of these pieces (Spannish Style?) and snap them up whenever I find one.  The vertical hardware is so unique.