French Provincial Makeover

How about this for a facelift? I absolutely love the finished product! A solid piece with tons of storage, that could be used for a dresser, buffet or media console. Check out the details up-close.

 This piece is currently available in my booth at Kelly & Company Antiques in Fayetteville, GA for $550.

Girls Will Be Girls

A client wanted to update their girl's dresser. The plan for the new look was pink...girly pink! The inspiration for the color was this:

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The inspiration for the girl's bedroom in their new [farm] house was this:

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Upon further inspection, the blue dresser had a few previous lives--yellow, pink and white. And we wanted to keep the crystal knobs. The chosen color was Sherwin Williams Impatient Pink (SW6854).

Here's the sparkly outcome, while she waited on the front porch to get picked up and taken to her new home! I can't wait to see the whole room put together!

Antique Dresser Makeover

When a friend asked me to take a look at an old dresser, I didn't know what to expect. She told me it had been sitting in her basement for years and wondered if it had any potential. Upon entering the basement, I couldn't wait to get my hands [and paintbrush] on the dresser! There was so much potential!

If an antique piece is in great shape, I might feel guilty about painting on beautiful wood. The wood was beautiful, but there were some places that weren't in good shape...so I didn't feel so bad. Plus, it's what the customer wanted!

The dresser also needed some work--drawers weren't properly supported on the inside, trim was falling off and there was a missing trim piece on the bottom. Nothing alittle wood glue and a nail gun couldn't fix.

The customer wanted 'light distressing' and asked if there might be a way to make the carved flower detail stand out. She also wanted a light gray color and wanted new hardware, as the old hardware wasn't big enough for heavy drawers and pulls were missing.

The Result:

I absolutely LOVE the finished product! A light gray (Essential Gray from Sherwin Williams) was chosen and then I made my own chalk paint. I used some homemade white chalk paint to highlight the flower detail (under the mirror), as well as the notched carvings on the sides of the drawers, which is hard to see in the above photo.

All four sides of the drawers had notched carvings, but I chose to do the vertical ones in white so that it (a) wouldn't break up the dresser, and (b) it would tie into the vertical notches on both sides of the flower detail. Another favorite part....the spindles!

The before and after of the flower detail. 

Some of the distressing details.

After adding some new hardware, she was ready to leave the dark corner of the basement and take up residence in the guest bedroom!

*I love doing custom pieces, so if you've got something that's collecting dust or you don't think it has potential, I'd love to take a look at it! I can either bring new life to a piece in your home, or if you'd rather get rid of it, I'd be more than happy to take it off your hands!

Antique Dictionary Dresser

Out of all of the furniture that I've painted, this next pieces is my absolute favorite!

A beautiful, antique, North Carolina-made dresser!

The dresser was my very first piece of furniture that I painted (besides that Mexican dresser in 9th grade!), and my first time using AS chalk paint. I used Old White, dark wax and clear wax. I learned a few lessons on my first ASCP expedition, which I'll share with you in another post.

 See that wimpy hardware!

I chose new hardware for the dresser because the original hardware was wimpy! The knobs didn't make a statement, and they were very small for the big, deep drawers. {*Getting new hardware can be a very inexpensive way to give a facelift to a piece of furniture!}There was also a small raised circle on the middle drawer, and I decided to add a wood ornament...which I LOVE!

After the dresser was finished, I thought it needed alittle something something done to the insides of the drawers. I put some polka-dot shelf paper in the drawers, but wasn't happy with the result. Then I decided to use the pages of an old dictionary (my dad's from college, I think?) to line the drawers. I brushed the drawers with Mod-Podge to glue the pages down, and then put three coats of Mod-Podge over everything to seal it well. This little surprise adds so much to an already beautiful dresser!

Length: 4 feet

Depth: 23 inches

Height: 35 inches

Price: $369