another serpentine dresser project!

I love this style of dresser, they’re just so pretty!

Uh. . . well. . .
they CAN be so pretty.
OMG is THIS one sad.
What was someone thinking here–???

–

The problems.

I’m just speculating, but, did someone streak a brush full of stain through the wet paint to get this look?  Ugh.

The wheels were toast.

The hardware was just  W R O N G.

It needed several repairs and one drawer bottom needed replacing.

And O-M-G it STUNK.  The car (and my nose) needed serious venting out.

–I took it to the strippers first thing Monday.  It wasn’t going to be a “pretty” wood so I opted for my UNorthodox strip job—“…just wreck the top please, and I’ll go from there!”  Stripping solution was also used to kill the horrible smell, and I pressure washed EVERYthing CLEAN.
(above & below- the top “stripped”)
I bought a new set of wood wheels before I left and –GOT. BUSY.

The Top.  The wood was that REALLY heavily grained oak.  I’m not a fan.  So we left the stripper on to melt-bubble-crackle the paint, then lightly rinsed it off trying to NOT disturb the effect.  I left it to dry in the sun -THEN- hit it with course sand paper to get a VERY chipped up paint effect.

I was only looking for TEXTURE at this point.  I sprayed the top with primer to seal in my chippy effect, then added Floetrol to a simple white paint so I could brush paint the top and body and not have obvious brush strokes in the end.

I had several ideas for the end product.  When I decided on using some of my collected vintage ’40’s wallpaper, I found the white was TOO much and over-sprayed with Rust-Oleum’s Chiffon Cream Chalk paint.  It gave a much softer, off white that worked much better with my wallpaper!

WoW!  NOT easy to get a picture of the top for the end effect.  Trust me—it looks authentically chippy-layered old!  I waxed the top and buffed it out 4 times.  It is absolutely smooth as silk!

I pried off the old broken and missing wheels, and replaced them with an almost 2″ reproduction wood wheel.  It raised the height to 27½”.  I’m thinking this would be better as a night stand/extra storage dresser.

I added an orphaned mirror.  I like the scale and height but wish it was oval to go better with the curvilinear serpentine-front.

Now 5’7″ in its overall height!

I waxed the wallpaper with the rest of the dresser—yes, it did alter the softer yellow color, but will give it more durability.
I added back the missing drawer stops, gave it appropriate hardware, and put the whole piece back together again—with the additional mirror!

I love the detail of the string of pearls!

Isn’t she beautiful now? ♥

Catherine