New Look for an Old Chest

As soon as I saw this old chest of drawers, I knew it was a good candidate for poster decoupage.  I've done decoupage before but I hadn't done a large poster before!

 

So, I watched lots of You Tube videos, and then I procrastinated because I was a little hesitant to start.  I wanted it to make a statement and I had found the perfect poster at Hobby Lobby but the nearest Hobby Lobby is about 90 min. away and I had only had one poster.  If I made a mistake and had to start over, there would be travel involved.

First up was to remove that oval "thingy" on the top drawer.  Turns out it was glued on and since the chest is old and the glue was dry, it didn't take long to pry it off.  Since it's darn cold now here in New England, I couldn't just put the chest outside and take the electric sander to it.  But... I was nervous about that shiny finish.  I wiped it down with a liquid deglosser and then primed it with Glidden Gripper.

The original hardware definitely didn't fit with my vision, so it had to go; which meant there were screw holes in the drawers to fill.

I sometimes make my own chalk paint and I also like to try the other options for chalk paint that are available.  Recently I was sent a free sample of Websters Chalk Powder so mixed it with Valspar's Cocktail Dress.  It covered well using two coats.

It was time to start with the poster - I couldn't put it off any longer.  It took quite a bit of measuring, remeasuring, and then I held my breath and made the first cut.  Here's the final result - 

The entire chest is glazed with Valspar Glazing Medium and the top and sides are protected with Sheer Vax.  The drawers are protected with two coats of GF Satin Urethane.

 

I'm so happy with the way this turned out and yes, it was worth the angst!

Catching Up

I haven't posted in a while but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!  I've done several small projects and since the process (prep, paint, distress, protect) was basically the same for each, it seemed redundant to write a separate post for each.

Here are the after photos for a few of those - some have sold & some are available.  All are listed on either the "For Sale" or "Gallery" page.

More recently I pulled this lovely writing desk from my stash to work on-

It was in pretty good shape - just needed some tightening, which explains the clamps, and a fresh look.  So, here's what it looks like now -

 I painted the base of the table black (HM chalk paint using BM Twilight Zone) and stained the top and the drawer with Minwax Special Walnut.  I don't even know if you can buy this shade of stain anymore but I've picked up a few cans at yard sales/estate sales so I combined them all and now have a quart.  I like this shade, so I'll be using it for a while!

I wanted to give a little interest to the top so I stenciled a simple black geometric design in each corner, then sanded to soften the look.  The top is protected with two coats of Wipe On Poly and the base is protected with Americana Decor dark wax.

and.... here's a sneak peek at my next project.  I can't wait to get rid of all that shine!