Watercolor French dresser

I have been having a love affair with watercolor over the past few months and have completed several dressers that have a watercolor feel to them.  With this one I went a little more bold using blues and greens, and I just love it.

This piece was originally going into our living room as a couch backer, but I won the most beautiful French armoire at an auction, so this piece has been given the boot.

I added some cream knobs with a gold metal overlay, very chic.

This piece is for sale on my ETSY shop RetiquedByRaeBond

Miss Frenchy Wears Teal

Isnt this a lovely looking french provincial dresser.  I drove a ways to pick her up from a slightly odd man.  It was dark and dreary in the room, so I was happy to get out of there quickly.

When I got home, I learned a valuable lesson.  Don’t let odd men in dingy dark settings deter you from really ‘checking out’ the piece.  Because it wasn’t until I got this beast home that I realized it was….eeek…laminate. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I have painted laminate in the past, and I will paint it again no doubt, but I certainly avoid it unless the dresser is either free, or a super-duper steal.  This thing was neither of those.  I didn’t overpay, but I don’t think I would have handed over that much had I known it was laminate. So lesson learnt!  Always check for presence of laminate.

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Anyways, onto the fun stuff.  I sanded (lightly) and made sure not to go through to the MDF.  I primed with a good adhesion primer which I tinted to a similar colour as my top coat. 

When I came back a couple of hours later I realized I had left the garage door open, and apparently someone had stopped in for a visit because there were some strange markings in the finish.

I was able to apprehend the culprit pretty quickly though.  Blue paws tell no lies.

After priming, I did two coats of a colour I custom mixed.  I was inspired by a piece by Estuary Designs and wanted to mix up a similar colour.  In real life she is more teal-green, my camera favours the blue tones and I can't quite capture the colour accurately.

I gave the hardware a subtle spritz with some gold spray paint just to refresh them a tad.  

And here is the before.  Looks like real wood, or at least wood veneer, doesn't it!

A Tall Frenchman in Green

This dapper dresser was in dire need of some love when I picked him up. 

He belonged to a young girl who had a fascination with graffiti, named Brittany.  I know this, because she practiced those graffiti skills all over this poor dresser. My powers of deduction tell me Brittany liked The Back Street Boys, was in love with a boy named Brandon, and the stickers plastered all over the side indicate she enjoyed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 Needless to say, a lot of prep work was involved in making a blank canvas and undoing some of Brittany’s, (ahem), art skills. 

 I had mentioned in my previous post that I wanted to paint in green.  I custom mixed up this colour and admit that I tweaked it a bit with each additional coat to get a shade I was happy with. It was a bit of an evolving process to get the tone just right (not too bright, not too rustic) It reminds me a little bit of ASCP 'Florence'.

I topped with a touch of black glaze and did a light distressing because I felt it needed to be ‘aged’ up just a touch.

Here is a glimpse of just some of the creative flair young Brittany possessed.

French Baronet in Charcoal

I picked up an adorable solid wood Baronet french style set the other day.  And it was FREE.  Yay!  It was painted in that off white that would have looked adorable in a little girls room 40 years ago.

I picked up a tall 4-drawer dresser, a nightstand, and a six drawer dresser.  I thought about repainting them white and keeping with the little girls theme.  But I just didn't feel like it.  Nope, I wanted to do it in a deep charcoal.

Well, I did the nightstand and the tall dresser in charcoal, but I did the six-drawer in mint and white (pics to come soon). I had low expectations of what was going to lie beneath that old white finish, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it was solid wood!  Nice!

I left the inside of the nightstand white to add a little contrast with the charcoal gray.

I painted out the hardware white, it was originally a two-toned white/gold finish, and I didn't mind it, but I wanted the contrast of the white.  

This charcoal gray I used is a flat paint, and it just doesn't accept wax well.  The wax doesn't absorb into it the way it does chalk paint.  I knew I wanted to top coat with wax on this piece, not poly, so I did two coats of my regular gray flat paint, and the third coat I turned into DIY chalkpaint using PoP.  I worked perfectly!

After the chalkpaint coat dried, I sanded it down to smooth out the roughness and applied the wax. The lustre is perfect, a great hand-rubbed sheen.

Here is the pair of them together.  Aren't they handsome!

Here are a couple of before pics.  Although they look like they are in great condition, the finish was chipping and scratched.  In short, they looked their age (and not in a good way).

French Bedroom Set in White

I have been busy this week!  I picked up an absolutely beautiful French Bowfront Bedroom Set.  It is vintage Dixie furniture and truly gorgeous with its curvy lines and detailed trim.

Initially I wanted to paint each piece individually and not keep it as a set.  But in the end, I opted to keep it simple and 'matchy matchy' and went for pure white.

I did inject a bit of personality into the insides of the cupboards though, where I added some lovely silver/blue peacock inspired paper.  It gives it that little bit of 'wow' factor that it needs.

The pictures are less than average, I know.  Given the size and quantity of pieces, I had no choice but to snap them outside and in the garage. 

 The Armoir is probably my favorite piece.  The lines are so elegant and romantic, and I love how great the paper looks on the inside.  Such a great surprise when you open it up.

There is me peeking out in the mirror.  It looks like Im proudly holding the broom.

Don't you feel so lucky when you come across gorgeous furniture.  It hardly takes any effort at all!  (Well maybe just a bit: sanding, 2 coats of primer, 4 coats of paint, and a topcoat)...Its worth it in the end though and when you see the finished results.

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

Diamonds are a girl's best friend

I loved doing this piece.  I had a vision that of a muted grey with a lovely diamond (harlequin) top.  I was inspired to use the diamond top by Crystal at THESHABBIESTCHICK and am so happy with the results.  

It has found its way as a feature piece in an expectant mother's nursery which makes me very happy.

I customed mixed the grey and used white ASCP for the diamonds.  I then gave everything a good distressing and a coat of clear wax.