D.D.'s Cottage and Design: October 2014

While my daughter was at karate I popped into the local thrift store near by and found this ugly, but beautiful dresser!

Before:

High Gloss

The dresser was old and had great bones (beautiful part), but the paint on it was very high gloss and an ugly brown/orange. I of course loved it and bought it right away.

My first thought was to strip the top down to natural wood and so I got out my paint stripping goo and started working.

A) First layer of stripper
B) Second layer of stripper ( you can see the next layer of paint)
C) Third layer of stripper (layers of brown, yellow,green, tan paint)

Gooey scraped paint

After getting the paint off the top, I did a light sand and then sealed/stained the wood with AS dark wax. I didn't want it to look perfect and so I left bits of paint so it would have character.

I first painted a quick coat of white chalk paint on the dresser (it acts like a primer and I wanted hints of white to show through with distressing). I mixed up Spellbound by Benjamin Moore into chalk paint and painted away. I hand painted the details in white and then distressed. I like to distress with a scraper and get the chippy look on the edges. To seal the dresser I used dark wax and hemp oil.

I love that the original colors show through with the distressing

The dark wax aged the white

Pretty knobs

Gorgeous legs

Detail on the back piece

I love the dark wood-it was worth the work!

I like seeing the paint in the wood-character!

I have to admit that this is one of my favorite pieces and I wish I could keep it!

Linking up with:
modvintagelife
rommyfrontporchtoyours
rootedinthyme

betweennapsontheporch

coastalcharm

niftythriftythings

cedarhillfarmhouse
.cozylittlehouse

elizabethandco

My rusty crusty purchase!

As you know I love Atelier De Campagne and visiting them is a treat. They had a small event with a few other venders at their business this weekend and I went with a friend.