Sunday, 15 September 2013

Charcoal and White Dresser

I knew as soon as I saw this little gem what I wanted to do with it.  I have been wanting to do a charcoal gray with white highlighting for a little while now, and this dresser was the perfect candidate for that vision with its great trim work on the drawer facings.


I love the low streamline look of it, and I knew it would be a great modern-contemporary piece with crisp lines and no distressing.


I also really like the original hardware, squarish and blocky, it reminds me of campaign dressers.


There was two pieces of trim missing which the original owner had lost, so Mr. Chuckles helped me source some new trim and cut it to size.  I also decided to go with four circle pulls across the top, original it only had two in the top middle drawer. I thought it would look more consistent if they went all the way across the top.


I have used this colour before (here) and love how the dark gray looks when it is topped with wipe on poly. It offers a great low lustre hand-rubbed sheen.


Painting out the trim was the most time consuming step.  I had to tape it, because I couldn’t get a clean line freehanding.  I taped all the drawers, then I did a base coat of the gray to seal the tape line, and topped it with three coats of white.  Unfortunately I did get some bleed through in a few places, but it was easily touched up by hand.



I love the legs on this piece.  I really love furniture with legs, so it was nice to get a piece with them already attached!



Happy Sunday everyone!

The Before!

Thursday, 12 September 2013

Antique Dresser in Grey

I love this style of dresser!  I do a little tap dance every time I see one at a reasonable price.  Ratta-tatta tat! They are so delicate and airy, and those little turned legs just warm my heart.



This gem was in pretty good shape.  She was missing a few pieces of veneer here and there, but it was nothing that a little bit of wood filler couldn't fix.  



I custom mixed up this grey using some darker grey and white paint.  I knew I wanted it to be a fairly light, almost pastel type grey.  It can be hard to eyeball it when mixing your own colours without a chip or sample to go off, but in this case, I am pretty happy with the shade.



The top was in wonderful condition apart from a few water marks.  Because of this, I gave a light coat of zinsser BIN to the top only, just to lock in that water stain.



I did three coats of the grey all over, two probably would of sufficed but just to be safe I did a third.



My grey paint is a flat, and the white was a satin, so together these two paints made the perfect sheen.  It looks a bit like chalk paint with the wax applied, a lovely, yet very soft sheen.



I love the original hardware, ornate and delicate.  Plus I LOVE ring pulls.  I decided to paint them out white though as I wanted a super romantic and soft feel.  The white contrasts great with the grey.



This is my first piece of furniture with casters.  Kinda neat, but those little suckers like to sneak away from you when they aren't planted on top of a carpet.  Miss Do-As-I-Please keeps jumping up on it for fair-ground rides.  If she wasn't a cat she would be screaming 'Yipeeeeeeeee'.  Nothing beats furniture surfing!



Here is the before, the light patches are wood filler.

All from me!




linking up to:
missmustardseed
http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com
http://www.redouxinteriors.com
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/2013/09/195th-power-paint-party-popp.html











Monday, 9 September 2013

Brutalist style mcm beauties!

Oh Lordy, am I excited!!  And no, it isn’t because the men’s US Open Tennis final is just about to begin.  Ok, it is a little bit.  I am a die-hard tennis fan and I love a good match up, and this one between Rafa and Djokovic should be soooooo-perb! Painting furniture is my number one addiction, tennis is my second (wine is my third :))  But no, I am over the moon excited about this absolutely fabulous furniture I picked up at the weekend!



Initially my plan was to paint it out a two-toned original wood/ ivory white (similar to this post here), but it is in such amazing condition that I am going to leave it original.  The colour and the finish on these pieces is as en-trend as Lady Ga-ga perched a-top an apple ipad wielding a whole-wheat vegan wrap.




I only have pics of the nightstands at the moment, but the entire set (headboard, longboy, armoir, mirror) are all equally amazing.


I did some research and this style of furniture is themed as BRUTALIST in the style of Paul Evans.  Im lovin’ it! It channels a real gothic vibe to it.


Here is a pic of the lovely matching mirror. Oh, and ladies, as an added bonus, the gentlemen I picked this wonderful set up from was not only extremely patient as I wrestled with my stubborn tie-down straps, but more than just-a little handsome as well.  :)

Friday, 6 September 2013

Ornate + Mint + White = Yum!

This solid wood dresser was in fantastic shape when I picked her up.  She was a lovely dark wood and had been taken well care of over the years.  I hesitated for a moment before breaking out the paint cans.  But like a good addict, I conceded in the end!



I wanted a break from turquoise, thought about a nice dark grey, but in the end I went with a mint/white combo.

This piece has fantastic hardware!  Large, solid and very curvy.  They just don't make hardware like this any more!



I bought some new paper about a week and a half ago and got to put it to good use!  This is a floral mint/white paper and it goes perfectly with the theme.



I used modpodge to attach it - easy peasy!



I used my Zinsser primer again and tinted it a similar shade of green.  I used my favorite dulux paint in satin for the body, I custom tinted using some green tint I got from the paint store  



I painted out some of the trim in white, and then distressed it a bit to age it up.  I also distressed the entire dresser lightly.



I think this piece would lovely in a nursery, or a room featuring neutrals or soft pastels.



And here is the before - quite the looker in her original duds, wouldn't you agree?



Linking up to:
missmustardseed
http://www.flusterbuster.com/
http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com
http://www.redouxinteriors.com