Minty Antique Gentlemen's Dresser

 

 

 
It's no surprise that I love mint.  I have done a lot of mint pieces, and I particularly love it on antique dressers. 

 
When I found this piece I knew I had to have it because it is the matching companion of another piece I already have (currently stored away awaiting a makeover).  Mine is the ladies, and this one was the matching gentlemen's dresser

 
I gave the piece a good sand and repaired a few minor issues with some glue, clamps and wood filler.  But given its age, it was in good condition.

 
I custom mixed this colour using some greens and whites that I already had on my sagging paint shelf.  My last two mint pieces were more of a muted mint which I achieved by adding some gray and brown into the mix, but for this one, I had a vision of it in a nursery and wanted it bright and high-spirited, so I skipped the gray and brown, and just mixed up the green and white together until I got a nice bright mint I was happy with.  My camera is colour challenged, so I find the pictures don't 100% capture the colour.  Oh, the woes of blogging with less than average equipment.

 

Its hard to tell in the pictures, but this is a very tall dresser.  I love these old gentlemen's dresser with their great height.  It also has some nice detail on the drawers and the big chunky turned legs add lots of pizazz.

 

 
The insides of the top two drawers obviously got used a lot and were showing some wrinkles, so I botoxed them up with some mint/white floral paper that I had on hand. I love little touches like this when remaking pieces, its like adding little splashes of personality.

 
I used chalkpaint, three coats in total, I also primed the areas that I had touched up with wood filler first, when the paint dried, I lightly distressed the edges to mimic some natural wear, and also to tie in with some of the original damage to the finish that I left alone (mostle some chipping on the top two drawers).  Character, right?

 
I finished with a clear wax, and I didn't buff it that much as I wanted a really flat finish.  Im still in two minds about poly vs wax.  I do find that poly gives a much cleaner, and far less streaky finish, but on imperfect antique finishes that are supposed to look 'aged' I don't mind the unpredictability of wax as much.

I updated the knobs by adding these larger wooden knobs that are painted an off-white.  I didn't think the tear-drop style knobs would look as good with the mint colour. I also applied some pastewax to the inside of the drawers (which are not on runners), its impressive how easier a drawer will glide with a dab of wax! 

Here is the before!

Aged Light Turquoise

I custom mixed up this colour.  It is a nice feminine blue-turquoise.  This dresser was in fabulous vintage condition.  A great find with all the detailing.

  

I sanded really well, and then primed the entire thing with Zinsser BIN (I find this stuff so frustrating to work with because it dries so bleeping fast, but it has aaaaamazing adhesion)

After my Zinsser dried (about 4 seconds later), wink wink, I painted on two coats of the turquoise.  I then highlighted the recessed detail with cobalt blue, and the raised detail with a lighter shade of the turquoise.

The result was very pretty, but not nearly edgy enough, I decided to give everything a really good sand to make it look more ‘antique-chic’ and less ‘little girl’s room’.

Because the Zinsser is stubborn as hell, it doesn’t come away when sanded like the paint does, so its great for creating a layered paint look.

The hardware was very dull and dingy, but I used my old sanding technique to bring out the soft gold lurking beneath.  I then shot a blast of sealer to prevent future tarnishing.

I picked up four new rolls of decorative paper a couple of days ago, and it was a real toss up to decide which one to use on the inside drawer facings.  I decided to go with a grey/white chevron pattern.  I kind of think it gets a bit lost against the boldness of the dresser.  I had a great dragonfly on butcher paper one, I wish I’d gone with that one instead!  Next time.

And here is the before. Not a bad looking lady.

Linking up to missmustard seed.  Have a great long weekend!

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

Teal and Antique

I bought this little antique gem along with the one I refinished in mint from the same ol' English lady who was moving house.  This is the one I asked Mr. Chuckles to help me fix the missing piece of veneer on in my previous post.  His methods may be a little unconventional (erm. just a little), but he sure did come through with the goods, because you can't even tell there was ever anything wrong with it.

I opted for a teal-blue colour which I custom mixed.  I knew I was going to do some heavy distressing which looks great with the really dark stained finish poking through on the sides

I accented with some of the mint I had left over from my previous project which I really like as it adds some highlights and moves your eye around the piece a lot.

I also painted that neat little recessed detailing in mint as well. Initially I was going to do it a dark colour (black?), but Im glad I decided to go with a lighter colour as I think it keeps it elegant and fresh.

I did some really heavy distressing on this one, more so than on the mint to really make it look rustic and antique.

I enjoyed working on these little dressers, it was a nice change from the big-bertha's I usually do.  Speaking of big-bertha, I just returned home with a massive 9-drawer dresser.  Stay tuned for the transformation!

Have a great weekend.  Im off camping - again!

ASCP Florence and Mint French Dresser

I was originally going to go for a charcoal and white combination for this french dresser, but I am really feeling colour at the moment and so I decided to go with this emerald/mint combination.  The body is Annie Sloan Florence and the drawer fronts are a custom mix. 

I did some light distressing to age the piece.  I also painted some white underneath the mint colour on the drawers to provide a romantic layered look to the finish.

I gave the original pulls a small blast of gold spray paint because I love the way emerald and gold go together.

This colour scheme gave me the perfect excuse to use this vintage wallpaper I found at an op-shop.  It was from Eaton's and the original sticker price was $2.99 for the roll.  Bargain.

 I usually wax the top of my pieces, but I decided to try a poly this time.   I sanded back and then put a coat of wax on top of the poly.  The result is a soft sheen, and is very durable!

Here is a before shot

Beginner's luck and a French Dresser

I was having Sunday dinner at my mom's house when she told me that we have Craigslist here in Canada.  Im embarassed to admit I thought it was only an American thing.  Oops.  So I decided to have a gander at it to see if I could find anything interesting.  Turns out that my local Craislist is pretty quiet on the furniture front, BUT I did come across one fantasitc piece.  It was a vintage Malcolm Funiture Co. French dresser.   LOVE!  

I picked it up and painted the body in Pure White ASCP, and I stained the top in Dark Walnut, I did a little bit of distressing and love how it turned out!

The 'before' picture looks great, but in reality all of the varnish was peeling off, so I didn't feel bad  when I painted it.

The Original