Many months ago (12+) I rescued a dresser from the barn at an estate sale. It was solid and a nice size but that was about all it had going for it. I was not inspired and so.... it sat.
Then, last week I was trying to decide which piece to work on and finally decided to tackle "the dresser." As you can see, in it's previous life it was such a lovely shade of brown(?). So, I took out my rotary sander to scuff it up and smooth out some of the chipped areas with the intention of repainting the entire dresser. I was planning to paint the drawers in a contrasting color but hadn't yet decided what colors to use.
When I started sanding the top, that brown started flaking off like it just couldn't stand to be there anymore. Under the brown paint was a coat of white, then a coat of pale pink and then... I began to see the grain of the wood. It was beautiful and looked like it had never been stained. The style of this dresser and the type of joint used on the drawers (Knapp) date it at 1870-1900 and apparently it had been painted from the beginning.
When I saw how pretty the unpainted top was, I knew the direction I wanted to go -
The top was stained with Minwax Puritan Pine and the frame was painted with chalk paint using Behr's King Arthur & Savvy Sisters Chalk Paint Dust. The drawers were painted with chalk paint using a Behr mistint and Savvy Sisters Chalk Paint Dust. It was lightly distressed and then waxed with Fiddes natural wax. I used Miss Mustard Seed's hemp oil on the stained top. One of the original handles was broken so I plugged holes on the top drawer & used glass knobs from Home Depot that are a very close match to the glass handles.
I was tempted to keep this one but it's in my booth in Sturbridge now so we'll see if anyone else likes it as much as I do!
