Before, After & After - Redo of Music Dresser

Hi Y'All - It's me again! 

Our next project was a redo of the dresser that Jennifer and I decoupaged with sheet music to enter in the Miss Mustard Seed's Copy Me Challenge.  To read about our MMS Copy Me Challenge, Click Here

Unfortunately, no one wanted to buy her all gussied up in her music outfit, so a change was on our to-do list.

Poor little thing was stripped of her music - every last note was removed.  Let me just say for the record, that stripping Modge Podge is almost like stripping the marshmallow creme mixture used to make Rick Krispie treats. What a mess - sticky, gooey and yucky!  The process didn't really take long though.  And I think it will be worth it in the end.

This dresser was purchased on Craig's List and she came to us like this.

Before

 Here is how she looked for the Copy Me Challenge.  We did place in the top 5 and that was exciting!

1st After

Here she is all stripped and ready for her new colors and finishes.  For some strange reason, the top looks white.  However, it is wood, just like the drawers.  Must be the sunshine pouring in the garage.  These mid 70 temperatures are wonderful!  The top and drawers were sanded, but only because the wood had been subjected to chemicals and I wanted to make certain that the surfaces were smooth and ready for the paint. 

This little dresser is pretty straightforward.  Not a lot of curves - just those great ones on the top.  I want to run my hand along the edge every time I pass by.

The top was stained with MinWax Dark Walnut Wood Finish.  Two coats were applied to make the wood rich and dark.  The stain was left on for a bit, but wiped off before it became tacky.  After the top cured, it was waxed with Annie's dark wax and buffed to a soft shine.

MinWax Dark Walnut

The body of the dresser was painted with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Old White.

It's here, I promise!  Old White - Annie Sloan

 The dresser drawers were painted with Louis Blue. 

Annie's Louis Blue

The last step was to apply Annie's clear wax to the remaining parts of the dresser - the drawers and the body and then polish them for as long as my arms last.

Here's the final shot!  We think she's ready for her close up and we hope that someone wants to take her home.

Edit:

Oopsie - I haven't added the final shot yet!  Sorry!  Cindy, you were too quick for me!  I'll take it and post it in a bit.  I'd forgotten that I set this post to appear automatically.  I just love that feature - but I really should get my ducks in a row, eh?  =)

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Edit!

Here are the after after photos!

This photo taken with flash, but color is most true.

Dragged dresser into room with light.  But color looks much darker.  Strange!

Had trouble with sticking drawers and asked Miss Mustard Seed for advice. 
She said that she only paints the drawer fronts!  Works for me!



 What kind of knobs would you choose?

The before dresser had wooden ones.  Too boring, I think.

The music dresser had glass knobs.  Too predictable, I think.

What do YOU think?

Mistake #1, Your Imaginations, Mistake #2 & a House Showing

Hi Y'all - I'm baaack - It's Paula!

Well, I've been so excited to show you my projects!  I just couldn't wait for you to see that I have been using an electric saw and sander and painting with the Annie Sloan Louis Blue Chalk Paint.

MISTAKE #1

Apparently, when a person uses their Pentax SR and sees only black & white through the view finder, the photos turn out to be black and white too!  So, all of my photos are black & white.  Ugh, Grrrrr, and all of those nasty (Noble says, "Natny"!) things ya just wanna say!  My words aren't "swear" words - they are crud, and shoot and stuff like that, which is bad enough.  And Noble is picking up on all of those, so I must stop my brain from sending those words to my mouth!

YOUR IMAGINATIONS

OK.  So indulge me here and let's play "Pretend".  OK?  OK.  Hoping that you remember how.  Pretend that these before photos are in color.  And pretend that you can see that the drop leaf table is red with a stained wooden top - which I did 7 years ago, by the way!  Who knew I was ahead of the curve?!?   I will take new after photos tomorrow, I am just too tired to do it now.  Wait!  I might be able to photograph the drop leaf table from where I am, which is propped up in bed typing to y'all!  LOL!  I'll try it and see what happens!  =)

MISTAKE #2

This mistake was a big one - but who knew? Here is the drop leaf table. Pretend time! Remember that the bottom part is deep cherry red with a stained top.

Oh Yikes!  Not only is this  B&W, which is insulting enough, but my shadow is in the corner.  Ugh. Drat...

The original plan was to put the chalk paint directly over the red.  I'm so glad that I didn't.  You'll see why in a bit.  Instead, I decided to spray paint with Heirloom White and then put the chalk paint over that so that I could distress it a bit and have some white showing through.  After using 3.5 cans of paint, there was little bubble on the side of the table.  I reached down to rub it away, thinking it was the white, but no!  It was the red.  The paint was peeling - in huge sheets.  Just peeling right off of that table.  A good cry came to mind, but instead, I found my handy dandy scraper and began scraping it all off...  And that brings us to pretend photo #2.

Yes sirree, all of big dark blobs are red paint with a nice coat of Heirloom White!

More blobs of paint, but she's coming pretty clean.  Sanding is next!

After sanding, getting ready for a hose bath.  I know - but it was the best way.

This little project was only supposed to take me about 30 minutes and then I was movin' on to something else.  Well, this "little" project turned out to be a huge three day project - and it's not over yet!  The top is no longer my favorite feature like it was before all of this began.  It should have been stripped.  My instincts told me, but I ignored myself and the stain went on unevenly.  Next week, I'll bite the bullet and strip and re-stain the tops of the leaves. 

See how uneven the top is?  Shoulda known better.  Trying to skip a step never, ever works!

I can take a  photo from the bed!  Hahahahaha!  Here is the drop leaf table.  The colors aren't quite true.  But I'll do a "real after" tomorrow in the daylight.  The table was waxed twice - once with Minwax dark and the second with Minwax natural and buffed between waxes.  I love the chalk blue and how the dark wax got into the nicks and crannies of the layers of paint.  Can't wait for you to see that.  There is no way that I wanted to strip the whole thing, I wanted the unevenness to be there on the bottom part.  This table had/has about 5 different colors on it.  Amazing!  I am learning a lot about re-doing furniture.  The more you do, the more you learn. 

HOUSE SHOWING TODAY

Jennifer and I worked so hard to prepare for this showing.  Cleaned the garage.  Trimmed roses on the East side of the house.  We cleared the West side yesterday and it was a jungle of tangled, growing, overtaking rose bushes, I tell you!  Mowed and "blew" the front yard and sidewalks.  Cleaned the inside - you know, all of those things we should do regularly, say we are going to, but don't. 

We have three skylights in our home and one is in the master bath.  The finish on the wall part was peeling and looked awful.  I decided that we'd paint it.  Jennifer scraped away all of the peely pieces.  I'm so silly.  It never dawned on me that I'd have to do something about the missing finish.  Out to the garage to find the drywall compound.  There is a brush that has been flattened that was used to put the finish on most of our walls - it's a 1980's thing in Texas I guess, since I've never seen it anywhere else.  Well, I didn't have the brush - it's in Little Rock is storage!  (Isn't everything?!?)  So I mixed up the compound, put it in a paper plate, climbed up on the ladder and used my fingers and patted them all over the wall space in the skylight.  We put a box fan on top of the ladder flat on it's back to dry the compound and then painted it with ceiling paint!  Good as new!  Why we hadn't done that a year ago, I don't know. 

Don't know if the lookers liked our home.  But the house is clean, the ceiling is fixed and tomorrow is a new day! 

Y'all be good and let me know what you've been working on!  I'm certain that your photos were NOT in black & white!  =)  Who knew there was an app for that? 

Too Pooped to Pop

Hi Y'all!  This is Paula

Who knew that preparing for Round Top would be so exhausting?  Who knew that for 5 days I would be covered in paint and higher than a kite from stripping products and paint fumes?  Who knew that Jennifer and I would long for a "real" paint sprayer to appear on our doorstep - immediately?  Who knew that we'd have as much fun cruising the aisles of Elliott's Hardware, Home Depot & Lowes looking for paint, hardware, wood, sandpaper and ideas as much as we like shopping for clothes?!?  Who knew that one could actually get a blister on a finger from using a paint brush so much?  Who knew that after buying 8 of those 3m sanding blocks that they would all be used up and a return to the store for more would be necessary?  Well, I didn't know!  We have learned a lot this week!

Jennifer and I are so tired that we can't scratch our itches without hurting!

Here is a preview of one of the items we've been working on.  Hope you like it!

First are the before photos.  This is a buffet with beautiful lines, curves and details.  She was in rough shape when we bought her.  I must admit that the photos on CL did not show all of the problems and at first I was ready to kick her to the curb and count it as a lesson learned.  But then we decided, why not?  Let's see what we can do with her.  Let's give her some TLC and see how she responds.

Front Center of Buffet

A little drawer surgery!  Great Gorilla glue and strips of a canvas painters cloth did the trick.
The drawer at the top goes the length of the buffet.  I could fill it now with vintage napkins! 

Front Right Side of Buffet - look at that gorgeous knob!
And look at those legs - I think they rival Marilyn's, don't you?  Yum!
Maybe she could be a pin-up girl after all!

During Reconstructive Surgery - One leg piece was in the drawer and was successfully reattached! 
The other leg was like Clementine - lost and gone forever. 
This little lady was "rode hard and put up wet!" 
I wish she could live with me forever.
Do you fall in love with the furniture pieces you revamp? 
I  may cry when/if someone carts her off at Round Top!

Buffet Top - poor little neglected thing!

Now, she's ready for her close-up, thank you very much!  Isn't she just beautiful! 

Jennifer did a wonderful job bringing out the details on the front!  I love it!

Do you care about the missing toes? 
  

The next part will be the glazing and distressing.  I'm not sure if I can bring myself to do it!  When other people do that, it always looks so great, but I'm so afraid that I'll mess it up...yikes!

More to come tomorrow!  Plus in a future Round Top installment - the story of the table top that I stained and stripped three times and finally gave up and moved on to my new favorite primer!  Lesson learned?  If the stain doesn't go on evenly the first time, or the second time, or even the third time, it is not going on evenly ever!  I'm stubborn that way!

TTFN!

P.S.  What thought processes do y'all go through to price your furniture to sell?  =)