This fantastic old dresser with Gothic lines was painted
in Olive Chalk Paint®.
We wanted to use a bold color on this piece because
it was so beefy and had great lines and details.
Take your drawers out of the dresser to paint them for the best results.
Paint only where the original finish was applied. Don't paint all along the sides of drawers or you will have sticking issues.
It will all get the standard two coats of Chalk Paint.
Justin in painting mode~you can see the top of the dresser here and our little box of Elmers wood filler. If you have any deep gouges or ripped off veneer you can fill it in with this filler. After that was done we planned to use the Rustic Technique to create a leathered weathered texture on the top surface.
The top was done by my son Colin using the Rustic technique. He did a fantastic job on it! If you have a piece with a surface that has "issues" like our piece~consider using the Rustic technique to your advantage. We teach this technique in our Annie Sloan Introductory course at Maison Decor. This old piece had veneer missing and a less than stellar surface on the top of the dresser as you could see above~the Rustic technique worked beautifully on this piece.
All the details like the chunky leg and the
decorative trim are highlighted when you apply dark wax.
decorative trim are highlighted when you apply dark wax.
The leg without dark wax to enhance it~
see what a difference dark wax makes?
Plenty of dark wax was used around the drawer details~and we revived the old
hardware with Bronze Gilder Paste. You might use antique gold or silver if that is your preference. I used some silver on hardware for a graphite dresser yesterday and it looked amazing with the dark background!
You will see that later~
A moody finish was created with the dark wax~
I could have used even more!
To finish up the dresser, all the drawers were lined with a timepiece motif decorative wrapping paper. You can use these pretty papers to line old dresser drawers when they don't look so pretty inside. If your drawers have that funky smell you need to take them out and completely seal them with Zinssers clear shellac. These drawers were fine, but they had stains inside. You could paint the insides of the drawers, but since ours only had some discoloration on the bottoms, we chose to line them.
Each row of drawers has different hardware pulls which
makes for a cool look. They came that way from auction, and
the hardware is all antique, so its hard to think it is not original.
Step outside your comfort zone and try a bold color on
a big piece with details and then apply your dark wax (after the clear of course) with a liberal hand! Buff it all up and step back and admire your creation!
This piece is being added to our online shop but is for local pickup
or you can arrange for your own shipping.
But be forewarned~it weighs a ton...
