I squeezed in a dresser project!

I stumbled onto this “pretty” dresser for cheap,

then took a much needed, relaxing drive to a very small, out-of-the-way town to go get it!

An awesome drive with some aMAZing old homes along the way—I’d love to make the drive again just to take lots of photos!

Anyway- I bought the dresser.  Sure, I knew it had some obvious issues, but nothing I couldn’t handle, and the owners rapidly loaded it up for me.  When I was home and off-loading it I finally started to see other problems.
Oh boy.

The biggest problem-
a completely broken,
poorly “repaired,”
(& totally concealed) front left leg.  And remember the front is a big curve!

Okay- this is not so much a problem for MY skills as much as, with mom’s full-time cancer care—I just don’t have much time for this.  I just wanted a FUN-EASY project to work on when I can find bits of time.
So -g r e a t- let the fUn begin.

I started with all the veneer problems, and then pondered on that broken leg.  At first I was hoping to clean out the terrible “repair” job and fill it with bondo.  It never set up with enough stability, and I’d NEVER put my name on that kind of work, so after a LOT of wasted time & materials- I ended up cutting away all the damage and just REbuilding it.

*Sorry- no pics to share.  But- I used scrap wood I keep on hand, figured the angles of the straight side to the curved front, glued & nailed in place, let it fully set up—then fine-tuned/shaped with coarse sandpaper in a belt sander.  Now it is  S O L I D.

I also stripped the top and discovered issues hidden under the SUPER DARK over stain job someone gave it at some point.  Looks like it was overly sanded in a few areas, but it REstained nicely and looks beautiful now!

I waxed the top instead of clear coating it—I just think it brings out the richness in the wood more and is softer to the touch!  But that’s just my preference!
OH!  And I heat-set the wax before the final buffing.  The wax becomes a harder, more long-lasting, durable finish. 

Next- I taped off and covered and protected the top, then painted the body with a spongy weenie-roller—about 7 very thin coats.  Left side, right side, front, left side, right side, front, left side, right side………
Each thin coat dries so quickly and all those thin roller-coats finish more like a sprayed piece.
*Hint- I don’t have a sprayer.

Once completely painted–it had several days to set up before I could come back to it.  Actually, it was probably a week later (hospital schedules and all).  I had planned a decoupaged face and the time-lag gave me lots of time to plan the finished look.  AND figure out some other more appropriate hardware.

I was looking through ig and this caught my eye—it reminded me of a poster in my stashes!  That’s how my plan came to be. . . with a few adjustments.  

I measured off, taped my poster to the dresser face, then used a sharp Exacto to cut each drawer section free.  I was careful to save each face-frame part since I still wasn’t sure if I’d use it or not (I did in the end).  A pencil gave quick registration marks for placement to keep everything aligned.
Working from the top down, I pulled each drawer(s) out as I worked on it.  It let me double-check the alignment because 1) paper stretches when it’s wet, and 2) I was already messing with each section by my personal method of “distressing!”

–

–

Yes!  I wad it up
into an abusive ball.
Yes, it gets torn some!
It’s all part of that
“aging” process!

Then I smooth it out gently by hand, apply a really good wallpaper paste and REapply to the drawer face.
I prefer to smooth it out and position it with my hands at first, THEN use a flex-plastic scraper to gently smooth it out, pushing out the excess paste, and finally, wipe it down with a damp rag making sure the edges are well affixed.

Here’s my poster (from Hobby Lobby).

Working on the last drawer-

And then I decided it really did need the slight face frame cross sections after all.
You can also see I added my selection of vintage hardware right away!
SO much better!

*I filled former hardware holes and REdrilled before painting.  I poked through the paper with an awl to reveal the new hardware placement.

Now you can see how the poster was NOT large enough to cover the face,
but I had a plan!  I taped it out to expand the size with a “frame.”
But that wasn’t all.
I used a liquid gold leafing pen to freehand outline the very outer frame edge.
Irregular on the inside edge–crisp on the outside edge.
I just like that subtle contradiction!

I guess I forgot to tell you how I lightly sanded all the wallpapered edges, huh?
In hindsight, I wish I had widened the “frame’s” sides.  Oh, well. . . .

This project was completed in drips & drabs of time.
I bought it May 18th and finally finished it on the 29th.
I loaded it in the car right away and it went to the antique mall the next day where I spent hours REsetting my space to accommodate it!  WoW- my space had become a neglected disaster area!  And guess what?

It sold right away!

Awesome!

But my space is a disaster once again for the new void.
So I found another dresser to work on.  Stay tuned.
Catherine

Not an antique-
not even vintage-
just  O L D.
But pretty now!

-my next dresser-

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how much do I love you guys?

If you’ve been with me a while, you know I can’t
seem to figure out those. . . Dang. Transfers.
It makes. me. crAzy.

So I thought I would try out (per the official website) Mod Podge‘s version of “How To“ …I say with rolling eyes.  I sort of  got it to work.  Arrrgh.

I figured out what I wanted to try—a black & white, a mixed composition, and one of full color.  All 3 would become framed wall art.  God willing.

I cut scrap pine to size, sanded & primed to prep for my images.

Again, following their instructions, I applied a generous coat of Mod Podge to the black & white print, then carefully applied IT to the primed wood.  It was very easy to tweak its positioning & I initially rubbed it down with my fingers.

A squeegee/plastic scraper made sure it was well applied with no air bubbles, and I cleaned up the excess drippings and put it aside to dry for 24hrs.

I repeated the same easy steps with the next two.  Ha- I got this!

And then it all went south.

Fail.  ugh.

The black & white print became pink’ish, the b&w/color combo–well, you can see for yourself.  The full color actually worked out—except that it’s a bit blurry?

#1 and #2.  I used the ‘damp sponge’ to gently rub away the paper.  Nothing.  Apparently I used SUPER paper?  It took a terry wash cloth to get the paper to rub away.  But it also took the image with it—and I promise I was being gentle!    

#3.  I decided to lay a saturated wet cloth over it for a bit and then try to rub off the paper.  THAT worked.  I thought that was the trick and REsanded & REprimed the first two for a do-over.

A N D- this time I decided to try something truly–purely Black & White hoping it wouldn’t turn pink’ish.

I went through all the original steps UP TO the sponge.  I laid the wet cloth over each to totally soften the paper and try rubbing it away.  Apparently that 1st success was “a fluke?”  Or does color make a difference?

I DID find that I could ROLL the paper away–
but the remaining image was “ghostly.”

I let it sit for a while –in frustration– you know.

A N D—then I got out a sharpie marker and colored in the faint transfer-  rolling eyes here.

I l♥ve transfers——I hate transfers. 

And-

I L♥ve you to the fridge & back!

I need a glass bottle of wine.  And maybe frame a couple of these?  Hmmmmm, or just create something from all these wine corks!  ; D

Catherine

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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

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the Other Nellie’s project

I made some pretty good use of Saturday’s “stolen” time!

Another  thing  I REfound in my stashes was a wall hanging

“knick-knack” shelf?

  Yes, it was one of  THOSE days, and once again—forgot all about BEFORE pics.  Sorry.

This was basically a

clean up~freshen up~dress it up job!

I need those EASY ones once in a while too!

–

I knocked out the back and cleaned it up/prepped it for a decoupage job.  It seemed to have some water damage at the bottom so I re-positioned and shortened it a little, AND cut a piece of ¾” pine to bulk up its bottom –and give it more support.

The bulkier bottom makes it much more stable and now I think it would be kind of a fun way to display perfumes on a dresser!

I decoupaged the back and drawer face with a few pages from my stash of vintage Etude musical magazines (1883-1957).  I’ve been lucky enough to find these magazines in some odd places for a couple of dollars each–NOT from expensive etsy or amazon!

I moved on to give the basic structure a light hand sanding, then painted it with some “exhausted” white paint.  You know–the stuff that’s at the end of the bucket that’s been opened and closed so many times it’s “thick” and not so nice any more, and NOT worth trying to sieve or add any thinners to save.  I still just can’t throw it out—yeah—I’m “frugal” like that!

Anyway~ funny thing.  I painted the piece with “that” paint, gave it a few hours drying time–and when I went to sand it lightly for a smoother finish

this is what I got in several places!

Perfect!  Luv it!

Plus- you can see the grungy OLD paint finish now.  Uh, consider THAT a “before!”  ; D

–

Here’s my finished quickie project!

27½h × 16½w × 5½d

One more piece for my Nellie’s stash!

Catherine

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a quick sconce project

–

I can’t remember ever sharing this with you—from 4 years ago.

I found them at the ReStore,

got them cheap,

did a very simple face lift,

and REsold them quickly!

. . . gotta love when that happens!

I painted them with a charcoal gray metallic spray paint, and decoupaged the metal shades with parts of an early 19oo’s newspaper.

I’d actually forgotten about this project,

so fun stumbling onto these old pictures!

Catherine

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scrap wood STARS!

Before Christmas I spent a gOOd bit of time cutting out STARS.

No joke-

a LOT of them.

I wanted them for holiday decorating, for REsale, and for an afternoon of play with some young nieces!  (pictured are 3 of said characters!)

I dug through my wood stashes~and found a good variety to play with!

I’d already drawn out a bunch of star shapes till I was happy with one, then printed it out on heavy card-stock paper in different sizes—to create a pattern.

I cut out my stars on a band saw.  I want one SO badly, but can’t afford one yet.  The strippers are pretty kind to let me use theirs—I bring FOOD BRIBES!

I sanded the edges of all then– Painted some, Decoupaged others on one side, and just left some RAW.   Drilled holes at the drill press for jute string to hang them.

Had a lot of fun cutting out those thick “PUFFY” stars—which I’m keeping!

Catherine

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“trash” to treasures!

Penny-pinching.  Tight.  Cheap.

Hoarder.

Thrifty.  Frugal.  Economical.

Sparing.  Careful.  Prudent.  Efficient.

O k a y—a pinch of Parsimonious.  Yes, I’m a bit of all of the above.

I cut a LOT of wood.  And I’m not very fast to toss the scraps into the garbage OR burn pile.  You just NEVER know when you’ll NEED some small scrap.  For a test cut, a spacer, all kinds of—things.  And then there’s always that UNexpected—Project.

Call it a WooD CraFT project!

Like-

-made from SCRAPs!

AND-

All kinds of STARS for Christmas!

From all kinds of scrap wood AND some leather-clad wood!

AND-

Do you SEE why I don’t toss wood scraps so capriciously?

I picked up a CRAZY CHECK today for—

a variety of my stars, the Christmas Tree shelf, a scrap wood box, and the bottom rustic coat hanger-shelf!  Woot-woot!

From the TRASH to Paid TREASURES!

Catherine

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2nd chances and an extra!

I’ve been on a dresser hunt.

I’ve found 3 that are perfect!

About a month ago I got an email with a funny request.

They just couldn’t make up their minds about this dresser quick enough and missed out.  But was there ANY WAY I could DO IT AGAIN?

Why, YES, I could!   That’s the 2nd dresser.

Remember this project?

Well~having found another serpentine-fronted dresser, I was going to leave it that “blonde” finish and do a variation using THIS poster.

 

But someone else with regrets for letting that 1st get away asked if I could do it again!   Why, YES, I can!

Although she liked the new direction . . . could I do the other?  Again?  Yes, I actually had another of that poster too!  So I painted the dresser white yesterday.

Both dressers needed minor repairs, then a paint job.  Today I will decoupage the posters and ready them to leave—Saturday and Monday!

The 3rd dresser, so far~

no specific plans, and,

no one asking for some kind of REPEAT!

I guess I can think about it for a minute. . .

Catherine

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Captain America!

In no particular order,

from all I listed at the end of my last post. . .

 

July 09

I saw this dresser on one of the facebook shopify pages.

It was during one of those little unexpected lulls.  A quick, FUN project to play with!

Structurally, it was good, but it needed some REstyling.  BADLY.

The plan

It was pretty clean, but OMG did it STINK like an ashtray!

 

*If anyone knows a miracle cure for ashtray stink, please, I’m all ears!

I washed it inside and out with white vinegar and left it out in the hot sun for days—it STILL stunk.  In the end, I painted the inside drawers~only an 80% cure.

Up on saw horses, I added blocking to the bottom corners so I could add wheels. It’s a fun touch, AND helps me move it in around easier!  ; D

A N D- I found this Marvels comic reproduction poster.  I thought it would be a really fun addition to the 60’s bow-fronted dresser style.

But 1st~ let’s strip and REstain the top!

I mixed paint to match the border of the poster—because it didn’t completely cover the dresser face.  Plus, the wood was marred in several areas and would’ve required more work than was worth the trouble  ~considering a REsale price.

And here’s the end result!

Fun & Playful!

Catherine

 

 

N e x t . . !

 

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