Emerald nightstands

Emerald anyone?  I love how these beauties turned out!  And I love how quick their transformation was.  You see, I am currently working on a china hutch (which will be revealed soon) which is the most time consuming project I have EVER done.  Who knew, but painting out the upper portion of a china cabinet (inside and out) by hand with a brush is tantamount to insanity! So many corners, so many edges, so many faces - so many risks of drips.

So, I needed to treat myself to an easy project, which why inbetween coats of paint on the mammoth china cabinet, I decided to do this cute pair of nightstands!

I picked them up from a neighbor who was updating their bedroom furniture.  They were pretty ugly, but I could see the possibility.  Plus, they were solid wood!

I planned to keep any imperfections straight from the start, so sanding was pretty much just a good scuff, I didn't go deep and try and remove any blemishes.  After wiping down all of the dust, I removed the cupboard doors and hardware.  I realized that they looked better without the little doors, so I just threw them away and filled the holes where the hinges had been.

I used a coat of primer tinted a similar colour, and then I used DIY chalkpaint in a custom colour.  I actually get tint directly from my paint store, and it allows me so much freedom to mix up my own colours.  For these, I started with a forest green paint.  I added a bit of white, and then I also added some turquoise tint.  I had to tweak it once between coats, but the end result is great.  They are actually more green in real life...but SADLY SANTA did not bring me that new camera for Christmas so they look a little blue as all my pictures do.  A kind reader gave me a tip on how to fine tune my settings to get my colour balance right, but I havent tried it yet.  

I lined the drawers with some trendy gray/white paper I picked up from homesense.  It adds just that little bit of detail. 

I gave a super light distressing on some of the edges.  I also glazed over the chalkpaint before I waxed.  I used a black glaze and kept it really light and worked like a lightening bolt as I didn't want it to be too heavy.  I waxed with MINWAX brown wax.  It isnt heavily pigmented so the end result is only subtle and I find I can skip the clear wax as it doesnt tend to stain the paint like some dark waxes can.

I traded out the old 80s hardware for something a bit more glamorous and chic.  Can you see me in the reflection?

And here is the before.  You can see what I mean about the cubboard doors.  They didn't do anything for the 'look' of the nightstands, so I thought they were better off in the bin!

Just another two-toned MCM

And Voila!  Another two-toned mcm.  This piece was awesome, I loved the wood pulls that stick out at both the top and the bottom of each drawer, it doesn't come out well in the pics, but in real life they add some great visual interest.

The piece itself was in really good shape.  There were a few dings and nicks in the top and sides of the unit, so after sanding back, I filled with two coats of wood filler, sanding well after each to smooth things out.  That took care of the problem and she looked good as new!

After cleaning off the sanding dust I primed the entire body of the dresser with 2 coats of GRIPPER.  I only started using this primer recently and I really love it.  It gives fantastic coverage and has awesome adhesion. I didn't sand back to the bare wood on this one, just a good deglossing, so fortunately I didnt need to whip out the Zinsser BIN for bleed through.

The drawer facings were in great condition and they have a wonderful colour that features warm amber/reddish tones, so I just gave them a good clean and left them original.

I considered staining the legs, but opted to paint the out instead to create a sense of airiness under the dresser.   I then painted with my Dulux Diamond in Pearl (2 coats) which I custom tinted to a creamy off-white.

She turned out great and was definitely worth the drive to pick up!

Two-toned Hollywood Regency Dresser

I picked up this dresser a while ago and it has been sitting dejected in the corner of the garage ever since.  I wasn't neglecting it out of spite, it was just that I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with it.

At first I thought gray, but than I reconsidered because the wood grain was just so lovely.  I didn't want to paint out the entire thing and cover it up. 

Than I thought 'hey, how about a 2-toned!'.  But again, I didn't want to cover up that grain on the top..so at last, after much deliberation, I decided I would do a reverse 2-tone.  I decided to paint out the drawer facings in white, and re-stain the body of the unit in dark walnut (I usually do it the opposite way).

The finish came out great.  I protected with tung oil, followed by a few coats of wipe on poly.  the result is a nice low-sheen finish.

I really love this piece, I think she looks very chic and has that great retro feel as well.

I left the inside of the cupboard original wood (it was in great condition) to tie in with the body of the dresser.

Here is the before.  She was in excellent shape.  There were divots and nics though, so it did warrant a strip and re-stain.

Ornate White Dresser

Believe it or not, I have done this exact same dresser before (here)!  About a year ago I found and fell in love with this dresser and painted it a turquoise/blue

So when I saw the same dresser again, I snapped it up super fast!

I decided to paint this one out white, which was very similar to a similar style of dresser I painted (here) which also had beautiful hardware.  I used a pure white and did many coats. I absolutely adore the vertical hardware, and the ornate raised detailing.

Getting the paint into all of that raised detailing took ALOT of work!  I think each drawer took about 8 minutes to paint per coat!  Very time consuming, but the end result looks great.

I custom added the legs, which is something I didn't do to the other version of this dresser I did.  I love the extra height it gives.  The dresser now stands at over 35" tall.  I like the extra versatility it gives, as it no longer looks only like a dresser.  It could easily be used in another room.

I used a technique on the hardware to get a pewter type of look by spray painting with silver and than glazing with black.  It contrasts nicely with the white.

Lots of pictures, I know!

There are six drawers, all very large.  I love that when they are closed you almost think they are cupboards, than you open up and go 'wow, these are drawers not cupboards!'  Very exciting.  ;)

Here is a close up of the hardware, all the blackish bits are where the glaze really got into the grooves and divots.

And of course, the before! I remembered to snap a pic.

CURRENTLY FOR SALE, VISIT MY ETSY SHOP HERE!