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!

Yellow and Gray Curio Vintage Cabinet

I painted this for a lovely girl who wanted to preserve the heritage of the piece, yet update it with some bright colour.  

This ornate little cupboard was a family heirloom passed down from her grandmother who received it as a wedding present many years ago.

She picked up the adorable knob at a market in NYC and thought it would look great, I think she is right.

It truly is adorable, and although it was cute before the transformation, I think it will be a show stopper now. 

I hope she likes the finished piece as much as I do.

Turquoise Again!

I fell in love with this Sklar-Peppler dresser as soon as I saw it.  It was in fantastic condition, but the brownish colour was pretty uninspiring.  

I decided to pull out my favourite shade of turquoise and make her over.  

She also features small highlights of various shades of blue and some yellow to accent with the hardware.  

The oak grain is still visible through the paint which is something I really love about oak.  It adds a depth and almost gives the furniture a stained-like quality.

I love the swirly detailing on her drawers and cupboards.  I gave her a mild distressing.

Here is a before shot, you can see how lovely she was in her original state too.  It was almost a shame to paint her.  
Almost.  :)