BALLERINA DRESSER - graphic transfer

The Graphics Fairy had a playful ballerina graphic I wanted to put on a piece of furniture and this is the finished product. 

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BLACK MILK PAINT - used on a chest of drawers

 

BE-CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

I wanted to working with milk paint more to see if I liked it. I had only dabbled a bit with it to this point. I decided to jump head first in to do a big black chest of drawers. Black is also a very tricky finish to get right but I tried.

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CHECKERED FUTURE - natural wood and white dresser

We've all heard the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover" well this 1920's dresser definitely proved that statement true. The exterior was in nice shape, well stained and polyurethaned, the problem

was inside ...  

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THE CHEAPEST FURNITURE APPLIQUES - secrets revealed

Want to know the cheapest way to

added appliques to your painting projects?

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PAINTING A TWO COLOR DRESSER - blue and white

I love what I do and sometimes I'm able to help out a friend in the process. This dresser was on someone else's project list but things happened and it got added to mine. Let me share how I painted her in two different Annie Sloan colors.

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REBUIDING ANTIQUE DRESSERS - replacing drawers

Both of these dressers where curb side finds. They were from different homes during a community clean up week and understandably destine for the dump.

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UNION JACK DRESSER how to paint

Sonja had fallen hard for my first Union Jack dresser

but only found it after it sold to someone else.

She later signed up for my workshop

and reminded me of her interest if I was to complete a similar piece.

Her patience has paid off as the second one has recently been completed,

and it's all hers.

This bow fronted chest was original purchased by my mother

in 1968 at a second hand shop for $4.

I honestly can't remember when she passed it on to me

but I can remember how she hated the drawers always getting stuck on her.

I gave it a fresh coat of white paint and added the appliques

many years ago but never did the fixes it needed.

So the first thing to do was get all the drawers running smoothly.

I removed the top so I could work inside easier and strip and stain it later.

One problem was the top drawer.

The bottom had separated and kept getting hung up half way open.

A second issues was all the drawer glides inside needed to be refit.

So I installed new ones made from some nice hard wood stolen from a parts dresser.

Now onto the task of getting the flag pattern marked out.

I've done 2 dressers, 4 chair seats, and a little something else all in the Union Jack

pattern and still never find it easy to get it perfect.

Patience is a prerequisite for this project.

I used red chalk paint

(which I do not recommend using)

 and navy craft paint

When I tried to distress the face the fine dust of the red chalk paint would stain

the neighboring white paint.

When I tried to wax the red chalk paint it would also stain the white.

The craft paint doesn't do this.

So after fussing and trying to fix the white I re taped the flag

and took it outside and sprayed the white to get a fresh crisp look again.

The original round posts that stopped the drawers from pushing too far inside had

worn large gouges in the wood at the bottom edge of each drawer.

So before taking her outside I fixed the stops so all the drawers would sit

flush with each other making the second taping a bit easier.

The final step was to get the top looking rich and feeling luscious to the touch.

I stripped it with acetone and stained it with Kona stain

Then took a few days to lay on several coats of poly.

Here she is in all her glory!

NOW IT's YOUR TURN TO TRY ONE CARRIE!

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A HUSBAND, AN ANTIQUE, AND A POST CARD - aqua chest of drawers

George bought a little antique dresser last week and was very excite to arrive home with it in his van. 

BEFORE

Looking at it in the back of the van, I have to admit

 I was perplexed because it looked nice as it was.

 I had assumed it was for me to work on.

He knows my motto "if it's not broke don't fix it"

It had rich color in the wood, beautiful hardware

 but once I get closer I realized how short it was,

 only about 27" tall. We have been looking for a special
 piece to fit under a low window. Now this started to make
 sense, however it also has to be very shallow which this was
 not at 20" deep.

NOT GONNA WORK FOR US

 I had been toying with the idea of turquoise

 and now I have to come up with a plan to refurbish

 the thing.  Of course the first thing was

 to put some casters back on it to give it a bit more

 height. Then George shows me some repairs that it

 needed. The insides of the cabinet and drawers

 definitely would benefit from attention. The top

 surface varnish was bubbled all over.

Okay this is sounding better, I like to be needed.

*******************************

But I didn't have a clear vision and it was sitting in the middle of my work space and something

had to happen. The top couldn't be painted without being stripped.

If I have to strip it I want to stain it dark walnut. That's a start! That will go with turquoise.

So I removed the top to take outside to do the dirty work.

When removing it I found something, half a post card stuck

 between the frame and the top.

Addresser was:

Mr David Brown

1256 Davie St.

Vancouver BC

It reads "arrived at _____ johston. He is a big boy,

 was asking for you. The picture on this card is the

 hotel I stayed at in NY"

signed: "Father"

 See the post mark?

 1919 ..... wow that's pretty cool

Okay now back to the dresser  Trial and Error ....

I finally ended with something I adore ...