Finding something that is what most would call trash and turning it into a treasure is golden. So why not brag on it. I got this beauty at rustybydesignauction.com and what a deal it was. I saw it as a steal but some might think I’m crazy it was missing a drawer and the paint job was all messed up. It needed wood repairs and a shelf added to take the place of that missing drawer.
I wanted to do a new technique on it that I made up in my own head. Wasn’t sure it would work but why not try anyway. I started by sanding the dresser lightly top to bottom to get rid of any chippy paint. I followed this with Valspar black spray paint on all the edges, corners and any damaged area’s. This was an important step that would reveal its greatness when the final shabby chic sanding was done.
Once that was dry I applied 2 layers of chalk paint allowing it to dry in-between the layers. After the paint dried Greg cut and installed the shelf where the missing drawers was then I painted it. Now for the real fun to begin. I order a new product from Chalk Country Paint called “Casting”. I couldn’t wait to use it, from all that I read it was just my kinda thing. It’s a paste that you mix with the chalk paint. Using a stencil you lightly apply the paste over the stencil. When you remove the stencil it’s embossed on the piece of furniture. It needs to dry fully before you move on. I lightly dusted the same color chalk paint over the embossed area and let it dry. I sanded the entire dresser taking the paint off the edges, corners and the top of the embossed area. The technique I wanted to try was the black spray paint on the edges, corners and damaged areas. You can see in the picture the black didn’t sand away but came through to give it age. I’m in love with this new idea and you will see it show up on other pieces.
Now for the artsy part of this once ugly dresser. I added stencils on top in the color Santa’s Coal from Chalk Country Paint and aged it with my sander. I attached a galvanized square container to the top. Love this idea for keys, cash or phone at the end of a day. At first I decided to keep the original hardware. It was badly damaged so I painted it the same color as the dresser. This was so bad because you couldn’t even see the hardware. So off it went and on went the black handles that I found sitting in a bag on top of a neighbors trash can. One man’s trash is now this Blue Happy treasure.
So there it is and what a beauty this dresser has become. It’s vintage, shabby chic and so much fun all from a dresser with a missing drawer that was pretty trashed out. Spray paint, handles from a neighbors trash and 2 full days of work produces a one of a kind piece for someone’s home. I can’t wait to get this to my store on Friday. I hope your Thursday was blessed and Friday brings more blessings.
This piece will be at Doc Holliday’s Emporium 113 S Birmingham Wylie Tx by 5pm on 8/18.
