I am INSANELY and really quite ridiculously excited about this. Years ago I bought a dresser off Ebay. It was a bit of a grim piney sort of thing, but I never did anything about it.
Then from watching Kirstie’s Homemade Home before Christmas I discovered Annie Sloan paints, found my nearest stockist and went and got some advice.
The project required two layers of paint, a layer of light wax, a layer of dark wax and a cloth. In the initial flush of excitement I took the knobs off and got stuck in. The first layer looked like this:
I didn’t take a photo of the second layer because it was rather similar to the first! Then the dresser sat around in two halves for a week or so as I’d used up all my excitement on the painting. Once I got sick of seeing it unfinished I started on the wax. Here is the bottom half of the dresser with the left hand side aged with wax; you can just see it gives a nice warm ‘old’ look.
I painted the inside of the drawers and cupboards in a light blue using a tester pot from Farrow and Ball that was lying around.
I also replaced the knobs with these pretty ceramic flowers that J the-ex-who-is-still-around gave me from his days working in Pakistan for an antique dealer. There were only three so the cupboard doors may have to have different knobs.
I have spent most of this morning doing the wax – you have to work fast because it dries very quickly and the dark wax must be rubbed off the light wax as soon as you brush it on. There are a few patchy areas but I’m really happy with the result.
It’ll look even better once the kitchen’s been painted and everything’s back where it should be. For the time being though I’m loving how groovy it looks next to my blackboard wall.
That looks awesome!! I've always wanted a big old dresser like that but have no room for it in my little house!!
Micki x
Loving those knobs and the tease of blue when you open the drawers. Looking fab next to the chalkboard too…job well done 😉
tara…i love this. my girls have a hutch VERY similar in their room….WAAAAAITING for a new coat of paint. it IS a big project so i salute you my dear.
thanks for sharing. i am going to check out those paints.
(p.s. i haven.t forgotten you)
c
Ooo, very nice! I like the surprise of blue and the pretty knobs. I also *so* get "using up all your excitement" 😉
Beautiful job! Love it! It is just the style I like 🙂
Thanks all. :)Nothing like a little before and after eh! And nice to see new faces Aimee and Flor – thanks!
Lovely! Do you want to pop over and paint mine too? I got around to purchasing paintbrushes for it a few weeks ago, but that's as far as I got!
I'm almost tempted to say yes Becky! I am thinking of tackling my side table and coffee table next. If you allot a couple of hours it's actually really fun and therapeutic (and in my case as a very unfit person, a good workout!). And SO satisfying.:) x