Have you ever seen a piece of furniture that you didn’t buy for whatever reason and had it come back to haunt you later? Back in the 90’s I saw a chest of drawers at a country shop in Lincoln, NE. I was in love, but at the time I couldn’t afford the piece. It was a hand painted black chest that was a fine reproduction of 18th Century folk art. It was fun and had the right amount of wear and tear on it to appeal to my scruffy sensibility. I wanted that chest sooo bad and could even see it placed so nicely in my home. Of course it was not meant to be. I never took a photo because it was before there were cameras in phones. We’re talking a looong time ago! But I never forgot.
In the early days of Pinterest, I was searching the internet and guess what popped up. The dresser of my dreams only this was the antique. Oh my gosh my heart stopped. No that couldn’t be it could it? But it looked just as I remembered. It was probably one of the first things I pinned. I felt the same way. I still wanted that chest! Ok so I let it simmer and simmer and simmer some more.
One day several months ago I was looking at the copy I had printed out. I am not an artist. A creative yes but artist? I just kept looking at the picture which was hard to make out the detail in some areas but as I analyzed the image I started to feel fairly confident that I could reproduce it. The chest I had in my bedroom for years that was languishing in the future powder room area was the right fit. It was the right drawer configuration although it had one less drawer but it even had the bun feet. I knew it would look great but could I pull it off?
So this was the weekend. The husband was fishing in MN and I had the whole weekend to myself. The first thing I needed to do was get the wax off the chest. A number of years ago I painted the chest with Amy Howard Chalk Paint. The first time I used chalk paint. I have worked with waxes for many years but never with chalk paint. Thinking I knew what I was doing I applied my dark wax right onto the chalk paint surface not knowing I would need to apply clear wax first. Trust me, this is not a good look. Amy Howard is still my favorite chalk paint but like everything there is a learning curve. Boy did I learn a lesson on this one. I had ordered some Amy Howard Clean Slate which is a surface cleaner and wax remover.
It was the first time I used it but it worked like a charm. Made removing the wax simple just wipe it on and rub it off. I will always have a supply of this on hand.
The plan, paint the dresser black for this I used Wise Owl Mineral Paint in Charleston Green. I had this left over from the little tavern end table I did, which I was able to buy locally and I wanted a black with a dark green undertone.
Gently sanding with 150 grit sandpaper yielded me the image on the left. Way too aggressive. Nope that’s not going to work. I had to repaint that drawer. The drawer on the right was with a 220 grit paper.
Next up it was time to attempt to draw these motifs onto the drawers in chalk and use the picture as my muse.
I wasn’t at all sure this was going to work but I figured worse case scenario I would end up painting the drawers black again. Armed with a large handful of brushes I had on hand and some acrylic paint I set out to do this crazy chest. The only thing bought for this project were two tubes of acrylic and a box of chalk. Everything else I had on hand.
Using the chalk I used it to give me a basic design for positioning the motifs, doing some measuring to make sure things were centered etc. Then I started painting with my very limited skills, twisting and turning the brush and again just keeping it loose. When I was done with the bottom drawer I was feeling pretty good so I moved on to the next drawer and the next.
The copy I had was small and very dark so I had to make some of it up as I went.
Then I hand sanded it all down. When I got it all done I said to myself oh I love it. Then when I went to bed I said what have I done? The next morning when I went down to look at it I said oh I love it. It is very exuberant for sure. Certainly not for everyone. But I’m glad I did it. Just by finishing the hallway, redoing the Restore table from a 1960’s Early American table into an 18th Century looking Tavern Table and changing this chest into the Jacobean Period style chest I feel like this room is done. No more loose ends. The one thing I would do differently is to do the decorative painting in chalk paint. The acrylic paint didn’t sand down as much as I would have liked. So it is a bit bolder then it should be.
After living with neutrals for the last several years I am glad to be back to rich color, texture and pattern. Though the upholstery is still neutral the new flavor feels like home.
Update: A few days have gone by now and I may try hitting with my palm sander and 220 Grit again just to soften the color more. It’s crazy I know but this lower level room is full of crazy ideas. What do you think? Hate it or Love it?
Thanks for stopping
Shelley
