The Violet 6-Drawer Drop-Well Vanity

(Before) 

The above photo is the actual photo provided to me on Craigslist.  I drove 2 hours away to pick this one up!  I am in love with these dressing tables/drop-well vanities!  I had some damage to where the center shelf in the dropwell portion was loose and it needed to be repaired.  I also needed to utilize some wood filler for some damaged areas.

I have no idea what the label attached the back must have once read but so wish I did!  I was so excited about the scalloped mirror and looking forward to accenting the two pieces that locked into the mirror just below the mirror wings and you'll see why later because they aren't pictured here!  I am totally all about the flourishes!

The center portion of these pieces is usually damaged and irreparable.  This is why you see so many people cut the center portion out turning them into two separate end tables or nightstands.  I beg of you  to please, please, please try to keep the piece intact and repair it!  If it stands even a remote chance at a repair and you are unable to repair them, please relinquish the piece to someone who can!  I beg of you!  They are so so so gorgeous!  The unique historical value with these pieces is just too valuable and beautiful to completely lose out on!

The center shelf on this piece was indeed broken.  This is due to people picking the piece up by placing a hand under this very fragile shelf.  Do NOT use the center shelves on these pieces as the point onto which you grab for lifting!  You are surely weakening it each and every time you do this. This particular piece was super duper heavy!  The safest way to move it around was to completely remove the mirror altogether.  The mirror itself weighed around 35 pounds! 

 (Evidence of a prior staining repair attempt & shelf separation)

 (More missing veneer)

This piece had a high gloss poly on it which I decided to rough up a bit prior to priming it due to it's dark finish.

 (light sanding scuffing so paint can better adhere)

I was getting tired of the blues and grays and decided to go Old Violet in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint with this one.  I didn't regret that decision!  I also threw in some strategically placed bits of Provence and accents of Old White and had used a little Paris Grey in the center of all surfaces to go from dark to light starting dark on outside and lighter in center.  I also used black wax and clear wax having put the black wax around all the edges of every surface.  I also decided to lightly distress the entire piece! The black wax gave it a bit of a smoky industrial feel, so I also chose to go with some industrial-influenced drawer pulls.  I love how it turned out!

 (glimpses of the Provence color)

 (Here is the side mirror lock panel! Isn't it gorgeous!?)

Here is a pic the new owner sent me of this piece in it's new location!  You can see it perfectly matches the color in the background!

Oh, how I am missing this piece!  Why is it so hard to part with them!?

Stormy Sky Chest of Drawers

(Before)

Talk about a plain and ugly dresser!  This baby was THAT!  It had gross stuff that appeared to have been spattered on it, like a coffee-colored syrup or something. GROSS!  This dresser was painted a strange light green color from the '60s as well!  I had gotten it from the same estate sale as this end table.

 (There was a brown paint under the green)

(The rusty original legs)

(Used wood filler to fix some damage on the top)

I started by removing the hardware and stripping off the paint.  What I found under the paint was intriguing.  I actually loved it stripped bare!  It gave me an industrial vibe and I knew it would be super cool if I just applied some stain and poly!  I have no idea where the black tones came from but I loved that burnt wood feel it was giving me!  If I had had anything in my house to compliment it, I would have left it this way and worked it in somewhere, but that isn't my theme.  I felt like it would make a great TV console under a wall-mounted flat screen!  I can just really appreciate unique pieces.  THIS TIME, however, I was not going to create a whole room around a single piece that nabbed my heart. So chalk paint it I did!

(I feel this would've looked GREAT with some stain and poly at this stage!)

 

Would you have stopped here with just a stain and poly coat?

Anyway, my daughter's room was shabby chic gray tones but she was getting tired of the shabby cuteness vibe and wanting something a little more edgy, so I went with a stormy sky vibe accented with angel wing drawer knobs to match angel wing wall decoration she had from Hobby Lobby made of rusty-accented silver and black steel angel wings. She needed a dresser so as much as I wanted to TV console this, I didn't.

(Still a work in progress)

I used all Annie Sloan paints and custom mixed a light blue color with a Pure White and Aubusson blue that came out to a lovely sky blue color.  I used Paris Gray, worked in some of the Pure White and even some Graphite that I also custom mixed with Pure White here and there.  I also chose to spray water on the piece as the paint dried to get a rainy, drippy look.  It .is called a Stormy Sky dresser!    I also used black wax to ombre/darken around the edges of the top of the dresser and used some Annie Sloan silver gilding wax as well.  I love that stuff and can't wait to use it more!

Finished!  What do you think?  It changes color in different lighting!

 (silver gilding wax)

 (the side)

 (black wax and silver wax visible here)

The Ugly End Table

(Before)

I got this end table from an estate sale.  Boy oh boy was it ugly and I'm talking ugly.  I was a light olive type green with stain wash over the top.  It made zero sense.  Maybe it did in 1975. Who knows!?

Anyway, I brought it home and stripped it down to the wood.  The very top surface is a reddish stained wood.  I can't tell what kind of wood it is however.  It was in good shape so I decided a staining with a walnut color and polyrethane would work well.  The bottom shelf also had a strange red tint to it.  Once again, I decided to prime everything first except for the very top, which I planned to leave natural.

I can't find all of my work-in-progress pictures for this one but will share with you those that I can find!

My youngest child is grabbing all of our memory sticks, flash drives, memory cards, etc. Constantly!  When I find the pictures I will share them here!

Here are a couple of images of me applying the clock graphic to the bottom shelf!  I did this by printing out an image of an appropriate size.  I then turned that over and covered the back with chalkboard chalk.  From there I placed it where I wanted it and then traced from the front side to transfer that chalk on the back to the shelf.

From there, I painted over the chalk with the chalk paint in Graphite and lightly distressed it overall to dull the image a tad. I painted the body of the piece in the Annie Sloane Coco chalk paint color and covered that with clear wax accenting some bits with black wax. I also chose to use a silver paint again for the small side panels!

Here is the finished piece!

Antique 4-Drawer Vanity-Dressing Table Refinish

I was just driving down the road minding my own business coming back from getting strawberries from a strawberry farm when I saw this piece sitting outside in someone's dirt driveway.  I did a double take and decided to pull on in!  As I pulled in a man came around to the front and I asked him if it was for sale!  I got it for $85!!

It needed a lot of work and attention.  It had what appeared to be a suede-type finish on the drawer fronts and they were so dried out and shriveled that I knew it just had to be painted to salvage it. The top hadn't been well tended to either over time as you can see above.  It had missing laminate in some spots and a broken applique.

I started with a good washing and then sanding.  This little fella decided to pop out of the deepest and darkest crevice of the drawer cavities at one point.

I primed this piece due to the dark finish it already had to try to prevent color bleeding through and then I painted it a Duck Egg blue, Old White, and Paris Grey from the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint line.  I decided to accentuate certain features, as well as the legs, with the white and gray colors.  Chalk paint is not easy when trying to apply carefully, as it is designed to be applied haphazardly so if you are wanting to detail a piece, be prepared to become part contortionist and for lying on your back on floors after lying pieces down on their backs. I went with the Paris Grey around the mirror as well.

I decided to put new drawer pulls on this piece that I had bought at Hobby Lobby that were too white initially, so I slapped on some Old White to better match this piece and painted the insides of the drawers the Paris Grey.  I finished it all with a clear wax after some very light distressing. 

The mirror also had some minor desilvering marks due to it's age.  

(Mirror desilvering)

Here is the finished piece!