Gothic Dresser in fabulous Olive Chalk Paint®!

 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.  

 Action shots from our shop showing the first coat of Olive hitting the drawers.

 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.

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...

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Waxing the Mora Clock

I added the wax finish to the Mora clock in my living room.

Actually I added clear and dark waxes to it and it does make a

difference in how the clock looks~so check it out.

 This is the finish that the Mora wall clock comes in~

a nice looking distressed dark taupey color. But for me,

I wanted a light and airy Mora, in blue.

So I painted it with Annie Sloan Louis Blue and Old White for the details.

Yup, right on the floor with a sheet under it....

and hung it back up in short order!

 Then it looked like this, very pale, but almost vaporous~

the waxing was yet to come.

This is when the wax does its extraordinary thing....

the details of the furniture or in this case the clock, 

comes alive and the appearance of age is added to give it vintage appeal.

 As you can see you can wax anywhere~as I often do,

 I clear a spot and plop and paint or wax...

Tobey has seen this many times before and still 

seems wants to watch me in action~it never gets old! 

 I used the dark Hannants wax that I got from Annie Sloan 

but is now sold as Annie Sloan Dark Wax, and 

I used Minwax Paste Finishing Wax in clear 

with my big fat wax brush.

 The first order of business was to apply the clear wax 

over the clock in big sections at a time. Getting the 

wax on the brush and then rubbing it into the surface of the clock.

 After I did the top half of the clock I rubbed off any excess

 wax with a soft cloth and the did the same to the bottom of the clock. 

 The next step I did was to take the dark wax with a different brush 

(have a dedicated brush for each wax type) and apply it right 

away over the clear wax in areas that I want to look a little worn 

or handled. I just smear it on it small areas like the edges. 

This is before I start brushing it in so it gets all smudgey

 and worked in so its not bold and spotty looking.

 A brush of dark wax here~

 And a few smidges there~

 And then all brushed in. I did the edges and around the face 

of the clock and up near the top. I wanted to maintain the lightness

 of the piece so I just used a whisper of dark wax, 

but you can add more if you like.
After the wax dries in about two days you can buff it
to create a sheen, however you don't have to do this step.

 Back up on the wall, can you tell the difference that the wax made? 

Look at the before and see if you can~

Before the waxing it looked pristine, right?

Afterwards it looks like it came straight from the antique shop!

 I always loved seeing these clocks in magazines 

and lovely homes with the french/swedish cottage style

I gravitate towards, so I decided I would sell them 

to those that feel the same way.  Tomorrow 

I will show you how one of my readers ordered a Mora clock

and asked for it to be painted in Paris Grey!

Oh, and I am still working on my bathroom, but I had to take 

a break when I went off to the Annie Sloan workshop, 

but it is looking pretty darn cool and that should be up next week.

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