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!

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

Minty Teal Large Dresser with Peacock Paper

I love how this one turned out.  The pics are not amazing, but in real life she is a great colour and her clear wax has given a lovely soft sheen.  I custom mixed ASCP colours to come up with my various shades of green, mint and teal.  I also accented with some turquoise and blue.  I distressed pretty heavily and lots of the wood shows through.

I originally papered the middle section as well, but I didn't love how it turned out, so I overcame this by lightly painting over the paper and distressing so you can only see it in a subtle way.  A bit like a whitewash.

Thanks again to Dionne at THETURQUOISEIRIS for inspiring me to use the peacock paper. She is amazing!

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.

Ariel the Mermaid

I love chunky bold colours and use a lot of teal, turquoise and shades of blue and green in my work. 

 I found this dresser and absolutely loved it, I used a custom mix of green and white to get the colour(s) desired. For the casing, I used ASCP in Florence, and for the drawer facings, I mixed some pure white into the mix to make it a bit lighter.  

Discovering it was too low the ground to be functional, I had Mr. Chuckles help me put these ornate and very delicate gold feet to add some height.  I love the result!   I call her Ariel the Mermaid because she reminds me of the deep sea.

I highlighted the facing trim with cobalt blue, some white and a bit of black as well.  It created a beautiful, time worn patina.

I love the contrast of that big sturdy dresser being held up by those delicate little feet.