Restoration Hardware Inspired Dresser Set

 
A couple of new pieces to show today. I don't use black very often, I can probably count the total number of black pieces I have done on less than both hands.  But after having done the Restoration Hardware Inspired black mirrors HERE and nightstands HERE, I thought I would try the look on these very unique dressers (which is part of the matching set for those nightstands.)

 This is the picture that inspired me!

 
I succumbed to an impulse purchase with this set.  Once I got them home I had a 'what was I thinking?!' moment and they just sat in the corner for a while.  I then thought I would just turn around and sell them as I wasn't feeling too inspired by them and I was busy working on other things like the three piece purple French provincial set for a friend that I forgot to snap pictures of. Doh! Ive asked her to send through some pictures of them in their new home. The purple was pretty cool.
 

 
After a few weeks, I didn't have any hits on them, so I decided to paint them up.  I sanded everything really well and I even used a bit of a deglosser (liquid sandpaper) on the curvy legs and drawers and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with how great it worked and how user friendly it is. I will definitely use it again on hard to sand detailing.
 

 
I decided not to prime as I didn't want bits of gray or white sticking out from under the distressed parts.  I had a large gallon of Dulux Diamond Black in semi-gloss on hand, but I didn't want a semi gloss look, so instead I grabed my plaster of paris and whipped up some chalk paint.
 

 
I sprayed on two coats and then sanded. And my word did it need sanding.  It dried very gritty, in fact the piece could have been used to sand another piece!
 

 
I sanded everything smooth, and then I wet sanded everything to get it even smoother.  This step took F-O-R-E-V-E-R and left me covered in wet black sanding dust.
 

 
I then had a decision to make.  Should I use wax as a protective topcoat, or should I use a wipe-on-poly or tung oil.  I have not been overly impressed with how wax turns out on dark pieces.  It dries extremely streaky and produces a really uneven finish.  I decided to go with the wipe on poly.

 
 
I wiped on two thin coats, just enough to seal the porous chalk paint.  It turned out good, although you can still tell it is hand-rubbed (as opposed to a perfect factory finish).  I distressed all of the edges prior to this step, and in hindsight I wish I had distressed a little more as it is a bit too subtle.

 
The tallboy got the same treatment.  I used oil rubbed bronze on the original hardware to keep everything dark. It was originally a garish gold and would have made the pieces look too Asian inspired which wasn't the look I was after here.

 

 

 

 

Here are the originals.

 

 

LINKING UP TO MISS MUSTARD SEED'S FURNITURE PARTY!

Restoration Hardware Style Nightstands

Finally some warm weather here!  Where was this weather when I was chattering through the night on that canoe trip!  Things have been a little busy around here lately, my dear mom had to have one of her kidneys removed as it was no longer functioning.  It's the first time we have had to deal with a serious health issue in our immediate family, so it was a learning curve for us all on how to handle the bundle of emotions that comes with something like that. True to form she handled it like a trooper, and we are all so happy to have her safely home convalescing. 

 
I picked up these nightstands as part of a three piece set. When I saw the set in the store, I love the bubbled drawers on the tallboy and longboy and chunky feet straight away, when I got them all home...hmmm...not so much. But alas, I had already committed, so may as well start painting.
The nightstands were tackeled first as they were small and easy.  I really liked the restoration hardware style mirrors I did HERE, so I decided to recreate that look again.
 

 
I sanded everything down and then cleaned all the dust off, aka the boring part.
 

 
Next I painted everything matte black.
 

 
Another good sanding to smooth everything out and to distress all of the edges.

 
Lastly I protected the piece with wax. It has that hand finished look to it which isn't really visible in the pictures. But I think it suits the pieces and echoes the look I was going for.

 
I also traded out the hardware for something a bit more chunky and rustic looking. It also matches the metal feet on the bottom of the legs.

 

The before!

 

 

 

Coral Hollywood Regency Dresser

Coral strikes again!  Kapow!! I have only been brave enough to try coral once before (here)and I loved it!!!  Look all those exclamation marks!  Its obvious I love it!  Apparently coral was the colour of 2012.  So what if Im a year behind. Meh. No biggie

This beauty is a vintage Kroeller dresser and was in ship-shape condition.  I used a white primer as I have learned the hard way that coral gets paltry coverage. The lady at the paint store gave a good analogy when she likened it to the coating on a candy apple.

After priming 2 coats, I painted about 3 or 4 coats of the coral.  It took quite a lot of coats. I also sealed with two coats of satin wipe-on-poly. I distressed all over the front and sides, but opted to leave the top undistressed.  I mixed things up a bit by sometimes distressing through to the wood, and other times going through just to the white primer. 

I also discovered by happy accident, that distressing super lightly actually revealed a burnt yellow colour.  So all up, there about four different layers of colours on this girl.

  

I modpodged some leftover coral and white contemporary paper I had from a previous project.  I love modpodging paper onto drawers, adds such a bit o’ fun!! 

This paper is a medium thickness, and goes on fairly well.  I have used it before (here) and really loved how it looked with the coral.  I distressed it lightly to take the 'newness' out of it and help blend better with the rest of the piece.

I like chunky hardware, and these ones were super cool. But they were so dark and dirty and dingy looking.  I thought about spraypainting gold, but didn’t want them to be perfectly solid.  I tried rubbing Brasso over them, but it didn’t work that well, and it really stunk. Im not sure that its related, but I noticed that Miss Do-As-I-Please passed out for about a ½ hour after one good wiff of the stuff. Hmmm, better than catnip?

In the end I tried a trick that worked before (here)by sanding them.  It kind of works like a buffer, and it shined em up good.  I sealed them with a spray-on acrylic clear coat to help prevent future tarnishing.

***UPDATE

I wasnt quite happy with the hardware, I wanted it a bit bolder, so I decided to add the little backer plates for some extra ooomph!  I gave them a blast of gold spray paint as they were not responding to my sanding technique, and then I actually sanded off some of the gold paint randomly to make them look aged.

What do you think?  Plates on, or plates off?

Bedset in Coral

I leaped out of my comfort zone with this colour!  I picked up this contemporary bedroom set.  The Longboy and the Armoir were so lovely and en-trend, that they escaped my paint brush altogether.  The nightstands however, were in pretty rough shape.  And the headboard, well, it was kinda bland.

I found this lovely paper a few weeks ago and had a vision to use it on a headboard and nightstands, so when I caught a glimpse of this furniture I decided to put my matchmaking skills to the test.

I thought about painting the furniture gray and having the paper ‘pop’ off, because I think coral goes with gray nicely.  But I have painted things in gray before.  What I haven’t done is paint things in coral!

Everything got a good distressing to ‘age things up’ a bit.

I love the original hardware on these cabinets.  So unique.

I think I will definitely be using coral again.  Very happy with it!


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