Did you know that the Chateau Marmont hotel is located on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and that it was built in 1927? It is a Hollywood landmark.  Movies have been filmed there, famous stars have lived in its bungalows.  I did not know any of this when I ordered my Chateau Marmont stencil a little over a week ago. I also didn’t know that I would be buying a 1927 dresser within just a few days!  I just thought the stencil was pretty.

Unfortunately, only a small section of the 18″ x 12″ stencil fit on the 1927 dresser.  Here is the full stencil:

I originally just assumed a place called Chateau Marmont was in France. I would still be laboring under that illusion if I hadn’t had the TV on over the weekend while finishing up my painted books. I have a confession to make. Sometimes I watch those horrible true crime shows. It’s one of my guilty pleasures. But I only watch them during daylight hours!  I would be chicken to watch them after dark. So … I had the TV on, and a show came on about a serial killer that appeared on the Dating Game. Please tell me I’m not the only one here who remembers the Dating Game!

Anyway, yes … it’s true. He appeared on the show in 1978. And in fact, the bachelorette chose him! Can you imagine? Believe it or not, he was a registered sex offender at the time.  Apparently the Dating Game people didn’t do background checks! In the end, the woman never did go on a date with him because she ultimately found him creepy. Yet another example of why we should trust our gut instincts!

But … at this point you are probably wondering … how did we go from Chateau Marmont to the Dating Game serial killer? Well … one of his earliest victims lived at Chateau Marmont. On the show they explained that she was walking to school from the Chateau Marmont where she lived with her parents.

And we come full circle and the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon strikes again!  I’m sure I would have never even noticed the name of the residential hotel where this girl lived if I hadn’t just happened to buy a stencil with that name on it.

But enough about serial killers, chateaus that are really in California and strange coincidences.  Didn’t the 1927 dresser turn out lovely?

You may remember from the ‘before’ pictures that the top of this dresser was badly damaged.  I decided to just rip off the veneer entirely.  As I suspected, about 80% of it came off quite easily in about 30 seconds, and the last 20% took me another 30 minutes to remove!  I used a heat gun and a putty knife and just kept picking away at it.

Painting details:  painted in Miss Mustard Seed milk paint in Shutter Grey with Grain Sack on the very top.  The raised oval and rectangle also painted in Grain Sack.  Finished with hemp oil.

The Shutter Grey is really more blue than grey.  It is one of those tricky colors that looks different in different light.  Sometimes it looks more grey, and other times more blue.  Either way, I love the pale subtlety of this color.  I wish I had done a better job with these photos, but I ran out of time.  I had to snap them quickly after work as my light was fading.  I wanted to get some shots of it before I threw it in the truck at the last minute for Junk Bonanza.

One last note, I must say the Shutter Grey was a pleasure to paint with.  I was worried that it wouldn’t cover well, being so light, and that I’d have to do 3 coats.  But it went on beautifully, covered quite well in one coat, but I put on a 2nd lighter coat for good measure.  If you haven’t tried this color, I say give it a whirl!