It's Time for Another TWO-TONED MCM!

Ok, Ok.  So this is nothing new and innovative.  I know I have done this look oodles of times before, but I really do love a nice mcm dresser with a cool two-toned outfit.

I sanded, primed and painted the entire body of this beauty.  Because I virtually stripped most of it back to the wood, I had tons of bleedthrough!

I did a coat of Gripper, then a coat of clear shellac to block the bleeding.  I then did another coat of gripper, but was still having bleed through, so I then did a coat of Zinsser BIN.  I then FINALLY was able to do two coats of an off white on the sides and front, and three on the top.  

The drawer  facings got a light sand, and were then re-coated with gel stain in dark walnut.

And voila, another two-toned mcm gem!

Have a great week!

IKAT Gone Wild!

And here is my latest.  This was quite the transformation!  I was given this dresser by my next door neighbors who were moving house, and didn't quite have the energy to take this piece with them.

I picked up this great IKAT paper and knew I wanted to do a modpodge project with it.  This pine dresser was the perfect opportunity.

The IKAT pattern wasn't quite complete.  From a few feet away it just looked like polkadots.  Do I decided to use permanent marker to fill in some black ikats in the middle section. It worked great.

After sanding I primed in a similar shade of blue and I painted out the areas that would be getting modpodged white so that the paper would still be bright and not get that look like when you wear a black t-shirt under a white blouse.

Above is the pic right after I applied the paper.  It went on really great with no bubbles, and as a bonus the marker didn't smudge at all when I topcoated.

Because this was just a 'bland' pine dresser, I decided to help it have some statement by adding legs to it.  Mr Chuckles helped me with it.  It was a bit of work, but it looks so much more grand with the legs and the extra height they give.

Initially I was planning to change the hardware, but I realized after modpodging that the hole were not centered on the drawer, they sat pretty high up and the hardware I had chosen sat way too high.

I gave the piece a light distressing to make it look a tiny bit weathered, and little more whimsical.

This piece is currently for sale! Contact me if interested. raebond000@hotmail.com

THE BEFORE!

Potterybarn-esq Sidetables with Chevrons

Sometimes when you just mind your own business, good things can happen! There I was, behind the wheel of the Mazda, bee-boppin' to some tunes, looking forward to a snack when I got home, when about a block away from my house I spotted a pair of wood end tables out on the curb. Just sitting there, abandoned and lonely. I saw them raise their eyebrows with hopeful longing as I drove by. Well I am a sucker for a good pout.  I promptly pulled over and gently ushered them into the hatchback.

5 seconds later I was home, and as  I unpacked them and had a little inspection and realized that someone had already gone to the trouble of stripping these down.  Remarkable that someone would go to all that effort only to later to cast them out to the curbside!

Not that Im complaining!  I set about painting them (no need to sand for once!).  I did a light gray wash, I basically just slathered the paint on and scrubbed it around really well to get a real minimal coverage.  I wanted them to look white-washed and rustic.

I painted out the little cute piece of trim in white.  Again, I kept it really rustic, I actually used a damp cloth to apply the white and just smeared it along, keeping it light and imperfect.

The tops are where the fun-factor comes in.  I used some gray and white chevron paper and modpodged it to the table tops.  It went on great, no bubbles or issues.  I personally find modpodge works better with a thicker paper.  I have used super thin paper before and it crinkled so badly.

I also find that when using modpodge it is really important to make sure that you use a good amount of modpodge.  If you apply it too thin you can't 'move' the paper around on top of it to get the perfect positioning.

On a side note, I have just down loaded the free photo editing software called 'Picasa' and really like it.  I am on the hunt for a proper dslr canon camera, but at the moment I used use my phone camera and edit the pics.  I haven't had a proper 'play' yet, but so far I really like picasa. I actually shot these pics on a super-duper gray and dreary day.  They are right beside a door, so there is some light coming in from the left, but it was not nearly as bright as it looks in the pics.  With that said, Santa, if you are reading this, feel free to stuff my stocking with a new dslr! 

Weathered Teal 9-Drawer Dresser

Eeeek.  Im losing the light.  Daylight savings and the Earth's tilt are taking my good lighting away for pictures.  Its dark here now at about 5pm.  I think I snapped these pics at about 3:30 and it was already so dark that they look really grainy and my wallpaper looks pink instead of white.  So, apologies in advance for that.

I was really happy to do this piece after that crazy white mcm overhaul I did before.  This was a wonderful, textbook project.  I found this great Kroller piece which is solid wood and in fantastic condition.

 I started by sanding down the entire piece , cleaning it, and then painting on a couple of coats of teal chalkpaint.

Its been a while since I did anything whimsical, so I added some vintage wallpaper from Eaton's to the top square detailing.

I used a very light shade of blue to fill in the recessed rectangle trim to add a little bit of extra visual interest.

I gave the entire piece a super-duper heavy distressing.  I wanted this piece to look really aged and weathered.

A closeup at the recessed detailing and the hardware.



FOR SALE ON MY ETSY SHOP!!

THE BEFORE

Saga of the Old Dresser Mirrors Continues

A while back I made a few posts where I painted up some of the old dresser mirrors.  Fast forward a few months later and my mirror stash has grown again!  So I have been working through them turning them into either fun coloured mirrors, or into chalkboards.

For this one, I painted out the frame, distressed, glazed with some white accenting, I then painted out the backer-board of the mirror with black chalk paint.  Presto!  Contemporary chalkboard.

Below are a few I donated to Mr Chuckle's sister's stag and doe party.

I love the way the patina turned out on this one.  I painted in the same teal as the stag and doe dresser, I then sanded heavily and 'glazed' using stain and applied dark wax.

For this french one, I actually liked the green shade of my custom-tinted primer, that I just used primer.  Three coats gave good coverage.  I then glazed with stain again and finished with wax.  It also got a heavy distressing.  The patina turned out really nicely on it.

Contemporary-meets-vintage nightstands (and a SURPRISE!)

I forgot to snap a before of these ones, but they are the matching nightstands to the dresser in my previous post.  Although they didn't have the Nike 'swooshes', they did have the pipe-shaped pulls, and the diamond shaped legs. 

I gave them the exact same treatment as the  long dresser.  Two coats primer and fours coats of paint.  I also stripped the tops and restained them.

They also recieved the same new hardware as their older sister.

The original drawers had two pulls on each drawer, so I had to fill four holes, as well as drill two knew ones.  I have decided I am not a huge fan of filling holes!

We initially had the nightstands stored upsidedown.  Mr Chuckles pulled out the drawer to look at the grain and discovered this little gem!!  Over 40s porn!  Ha ha.  We had a good laugh at this.  We had purchased the set from a lovely older German lady who was moving to be closer to the nursing home where her husband now lives. Clearly he forgot to thoroughly pack when he moved into his new digs!

Contemporary-meets-Vintage

This dresser took me to the brink and back.  I was nearly ready to pack in my paint brushes for good.  I cant be certain, but Im think it took me about 15-20 hours to refinish.  Way tooooo long.  Oh my word. This is the dresser I said I was going to pop a bottle of bubbly when she was all done.  Yep, it was that bad.  I needed alchohol in a big way at the end of this project.

That is what she looked like before.  She wasnt bad, but I knew I wanted to go for a contemporary - meets - vintage vibe, and those swirly little details and pipe-shaped wooden pulls were not going to cut the mustard.

Although I think she turned out great.  I am not so sure it was worth all the trouble.  Being honest here.

Ok, so lets talk 'steps' in this transformation.  First, we stripped the top down (to read about this experience click 'here'). Then we sanded smooth with the orbital, as well as sanding the rest of the dresser.

Secondly we had to fill all the holes on the drawers, there were 6 on each drawer.  This took two coats of wood filler, with sanding between each coat.

Because I opted to remove the Nike 'swooshes', I had a lot of little nail holes to fill.  These were finicky! Every time I thought I had them perfectly sanded, I would prime and do a coat of paint, only to realize that I could still see the holes.  I filled them three times before I was happy.  

I bought new hardware, I knew I wanted something that was gold, simple, contemporary yet still vintage.

I restained the top in a custom mix featuring walnut with some orangey hues.  I was surprised that the top didn't go as dark as I expected.  But I actually like the lightness of it as it shows the grain nicely.  I protected with tung oil and a coat of paste wax.

Initially I left the inside of the cupboard door white, but I wasn't happy with it, so I modpodged on some gray/white contemporary paper for a little bit of interest and 'wow' factor.

I had to change out the legs too.  The back legs were great, but the front legs had this weird diamond shape to them.  I wanted simple and clean lines, so they simply wouldn't do.  Four new legs please.

Big exhale here. I don't mean to whinge, but man, this girl was a lot more work than I anticipated!  I am treating myself by doing a quick and easy dresser next with lots of rustic character to it.  Cant wait!  White is so time consuming.  I did two coats of primer, and 4 coats of paint!

Off to drink the champers now!