Experimenting

For a while I have wanted to find a dresser I could try a new technique on. Instead of painting the outside of the dresser and staining the drawers, I wanted to do the opposite. I searched craigslist for an antique dresser because I like the style and character they have. I found this one and knew it was perfect for the project. (Sorry, the pictures are not the best. I forgot to take before pictures so these are the ones from the craigslist post.)

 

 

I went and picked it up with the help of my friend and brought it home. It had previously been painted a bright red-ish coral color, and then stripped down to bare wood. There were some spots where the paint was left, but I just sanded it off. The wood on this piece was different all over. The drawer were different than the sides, which were different from the legs and so on. Other than the two chips in the veneer on the middle drawer, the dresser was in great shape! That is really hard to find (at least in my experience). I started by staining the whole piece, including the drawers, but the different woods made the dresser look kind of funky. That’s when I decided to paint the drawers.

I used a light green/blue color. I like to call it robin’s egg green (since it is more green than blue). It is a VERY bright color, and on its own was a little too out there. I have seen (or read) or others doing a weathered/distressed look by putting stain over paint and just decided to go for it. I had never tried it before, I learned as I went… and it turned out alright!

First what I did was rub a dark walnut stain (I use Rustoleum’s ultimate since it is water based and it is also the same stain I used on the body of the dresser) over the whole drawer. It looks way too dark at first and like you just ruined the drawer, but then I took a cotton rag (a sock with a hole in my case) and wiped it back off. If you don’t cover the whole drawer with stain, it turns out striped. The stained helps the paint blend better with the whole piece. It toned down the bright color and added a grey tone to the drawer. To seal it I put a coat of polyurethane over the whole dresser, added the hardware and it was finished!