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!

Vintage MCM night stands

I love mid-century furniture.  So clean and chic looking!  I found this lovely pair of nightstands as part of a set (as mentioned in my previous post).  One nightstand was in great shape, the other, not so much.

At first I was just going to refinish in stain and keep them natural, but I love a good two-toned look, so I mixed things up by painting the body in bone-white, and restaining the drawer facings in dark walnut.  The legs were surprisingly in great shape, so I left them alone apart from spot dabbing small blemishes with gel stain.

I think the contrast looks great!  They look like funky little tv screens!

I also have the matching tallboy, and a beautiful matching full length mirror.  They are both in great shape, so for now, they are escaping the paint brush.  But you never know what the future holds!

And below is the original.  The top had the worst of the wear, definitely could not be left as is.

Beautiful Walnut MCM Credenza

I am going to preface this post by saying I didn't have to do much to this beauty!  When I saw it posted on our local 'craigslist', I knew straight away I wanted it.  Those clean lines, the great finish, the fantastic condition!  Love at first sight.

I picked it up and was even more astounded how great the condition was.  All I needed to do was a few touch ups here and there with walnut gel stain, and then clean it up bit.

It came with a tallboy (also in fantastic condition) and two nightstands.  One night stand was perfect and the other one was not.  So because I wanted to keep them as a pair, I decided to redo them (see their transformation in my next post!).

But for now, enjoy a few shots of mid-century furniture at its finest!

One Dresser - Two Different Ways

In a previous post (here) I talked about how lucky I felt when I found a particular dresser that had slipped through my fingers a few months previous.  I painted it up in a teal/turquoise with lots of highlighting and distressing and I was so happy with it!

 Fast forward a short two weeks later and I couldn’t believe my luck when I found the same dresser again!  ‘Woop-Woop’ I wailed at my good fortune.  ‘Raw-Raw’ I cheered at the reasonable price.  I picked it up and soon found a person who wanted to provide it with a loving home.

She decided she wanted it painted in pure white to pop off a textured gray wall she had, and although that would not have been my initial choice (you know how I love those blues and greens!) I have to say, that I think it looks incredibly elegant and chic.  The raised and recessed detailing capture the shadows and play with the light so much, that it wasn’t necessary to highlight with another colour.

It took a lot of primer and paint for coverage though (one of the pitfalls of white).  After sanding really well, I primed using Zinsser Cover Stain because it has great adhesion.  I then topped with Dulux Diamond in pure white (my go-to paint).  I used a satin finish as I prefer a lower sheen on my white furniture (apart from factory finished furniture – in that case I love super glossy).

On my previous piece I buffed up the hardware to a soft gold using a sanding block.  The future mother of this baby-girl was more partial to silver though, so I decided to use spray paint.  

I am going to detail the steps I took in a separate post, but to be brief, I scuffed up the hardware with sandpaper, sprayed with Krylon Metalic silver, and then topped it with black glaze to age it up. I then sealed it in with a spray sealer.  Im very happy with the result.

One downside of this dresser was that she was a little on the short side – she only stood a meagre 30” tall.  So like the other turquoise one I painted, we decided to custom add a cute pair of stilettos to this girl – enter Mr. Chuckles for some expert help. 

I sourced a pair of vintage legs, and repeated the same process as I did on the dresser – sand, prime, paint, seal and we attached them using brackets.  The height makes all the difference in the world in my opinion!  I love legs on dressers, and have added them to many now.  It’s a fair bit of work, but the result is so worth it!