Death by Dresser... (Part 1)

This dresser is killing me!
I do love this beautiful curvy lined mahogany dresser, but I am afraid the combination of my inexperience and the horrible shape it was in has caused many hours of frustration and also in a wierd way, enjoyment. I have learned alot and I am here to share.

Let's start at the very beginning...it's a very good place to start.

Isn't it pretty!  I bought this dresser/changing table from the cutest couple up in north Portland.  They had the coolest house with a little garden in the front.  I brought it home and my sister suggested I take the top piece off and just sell it as a dresser.  Which I did not even think of because I honestly thought the top was part of it, when she said that I realized it was added later.  I debated about this for a while, because I thought it was soooo cute as a changing table.  So cute, I wanted to keep it for myself and our next child (still TBD).  But then I showed some pics to an interested friend up in Seattle.  She also fell in love and said she must have it!  Decided--we go topless!

So the top actually came off suprisingly easy.  I think it has been the easiest part so far.  After I took off the top with my hammer and screwdriver, I cleaned-up the little dust bunnies and spider webs.  I did not think my friend Tev would want new pets in her house.   I filled the holes with my trusty Elmers wood filler and then sanded. Did not need to do much sanding since there was really no sealant left, just stained wood.  There were so many dings and holes though, I just kept filling and filling.  I probably should have just left some for the distressing look.  But I like to be in control of that part.  I like to start from scratch.  Maybe that is bad..I don't know, but it is my preference.

Then I primed with my tinted (I learned my lesson with the red chair) Zinsser 123 primer.  I had it tinted by Lowes in a brownish beige color.  Easy peasy.

Here it comes...I went for my normal morning walk, it was a beautiful sunshiney morning, came home made some lunch, put my little boy for a nap, went to the garage, layed out my paint cloth's, got my paint sprayer ready...painted.  Looked great, went inside to clean everything out, came back out..........(insert scream here) It had started to sprinkle all over my freshly painted drawer fronts.

To be continued...

Cute little green desk

Silly me!  I started this post last week and then got side tracked (it happens to us Gemini's).  So here is a story of a cute little green desk...



Original glory...not so glorious in my opinion.




A 180-grit sanding block got to dig in on this primed and painted piece.  The primer- water based Zinsser 123.  The paint-Olympic "oops paint" $1.25 from Lowe's in a sagey green grey color




I wanted a more grey than brown glaze on this piece because I kinda had that all going on.  A lot of grey in the paint as well as the dark pewter colored knobs.  So I chose to mix a little Varathane Espresso with my new love (sorry hubby) Valspar Clear Mixing Glaze.  The glaze makes it so you have a little more time to work with your stain.  But not too long, I left my top coat on a little too long and had to work some magic with a little sprayed water.  It was almost disastrous.  I would only do for example two drawer fronts at a time.  Brush your glaze mix on to the front heavy like.  Then about 2 minutes later wipe off with a dry rag first if you want more off, dampen your rag.  If you want more on, apply another coat or you can add more stain to your mix.  I start with eyeing about a tsp of stain to 1/2 cup glaze.  You can always add more from there of either product.




See the sort of a grayish tone. Sorry for the little blur in all of my pictures, that would be my husband ruining our camera about 6 months ago.




Almost done, don't you love these art deco type half cup pulls!  I heart them!




I even took it a step further and took off the small pulls and spray painted them a darker silver.  In my opinion it did not quite match close enough.  Simple desk waiting for the perfect space.



Quicky Makeover

Over here at Portobello Road, we are not just about painting and crafting, we are about beautifying per our clients desire.  In this case my client is my favorite (only) sister.  She spotted this dresser, but had something against the pulls.  She said something about her childhood and how every dresser she ever had, had these Queen Anne style pulls. "Clink, clink", she shivered and said, "they have to go!" I warned her of the existing imprints and expense, this sucker has 12, count them 12 pulls!  So off I went to Lowes, which by the way I find has a much better selection of knobs/pulls...$50 dollars later, a little hole drilling and wha-la!  Very old dresser, very new look...

Something Old...

Something new :)

PS. Sister, please come get this out of my garage.  I need the space for my other fun projects!