q is for quandie

Is it possible to be in love with a dresser?  Because I think I am in love with this one.

I know, I’ve said it before.  And I’ll probably say it again, but this is one of my all time favs.

I’ve wanted to try using vintage wallpaper on a dresser for a while.  You’ll remember that I purchased some from my new friend Michelle at Junk Bonanza.  There it is, in the back on the right.  I also purchased the Annie Sloan Duck Egg paint at the same time.

All I needed was the perfect piece of furniture to use it on.

And I found it.  A lovely linen press dresser.

This was one of those pieces that was actually in decent shape to begin with, although it had some damage on one of the inside drawers.  I knew that the areas framed in with trim would be perfect for the wallpaper.

My process on this dresser in a nutshell was this.  I painted the entire thing with the Annie Sloan paint in Duck Egg.  Then, I used wallpaper paste to adhere the wallpaper.  It was slightly frail, and back in the day wallpaper was not pre-pasted.  I went back to my former wallpapering days and followed the same rules.  I ‘booked’ my wallpaper by spreading it with wallpaper paste and gently folding the piece in half, pasted sides together.  I waited a couple of minutes and then opened it back up and applied it to the dresser.  I smoothed out any bubbles and excess paste, trimmed around the edges with a razor blade, and cleaned off excess paste that had oozed out.  Once the wallpaper was dry, I waxed the painted portions of the dresser.  I did not wax the wallpaper.  I don’t think wax and vintage wallpaper would have mixed well.

What makes this dresser a linen press are the drawers inside that were intended for storing linens.

I added some label holders to the drawers.  They currently just have some of the vintage wallpaper in them, but one could change that to paper labels that show the contents of each drawer.

Imagine how pretty it would be to have all of your linens neatly stored inside this dresser.

I staged the drawer with some white quilted Euro pillow shams that will be available at my sale.

I have to tell you, it was ridiculously windy when I was trying to take these pictures.  The doors kept blowing closed.  The lilac on top was fluttering madly.  Seeds kept falling out of the trees onto the top of the dresser.  It was pure madness I tell you!  You can see the movement in the lilac in this next photo.

I once again painted the original knobs on this piece.  I had planned to change them out for glass knobs, but because of those interior drawers, I couldn’t have the screws on the glass knobs sticking out on the back side of the doors.  I could have cut the screws off, and counter-sunk the nuts, but that would have been quite a job.  I decided to just keep the originals instead.

Although you see casters on this dresser in the pictures, in the end I had to take them off.  They weren’t very sturdy, they kept falling out, and one broke off after the photo shoot!  Luckily I was able to repair the leg, but I wouldn’t recommend using casters on this piece.  In fact, I am learning to remove the casters from any older pieces that have slender legs like this one.  I love the look of the casters, but the reality is that they usually aren’t strong enough to handle rolling the dresser around on them.  And people are tempted to do just that if they are there.  I am warning all of you now, don’t roll your vintage dresser around on its antique casters.  You are inviting disaster.

So there it is, my vintage wallpapered linen press dresser.  This will be available at the Carriage House Sale!

I don’t know why this dresser makes me feel patriotic.  I suspect it’s because it feels early American to me.  I have no idea if it is.  I’ve seen similiar dressers identified as the Eastlake style online, but I always thought Eastlake was a little more decorative than this, with some spoon carving or other detailing.  Any Eastlake experts out there?  Does this qualify?

Either way, I went with a patriotic color.  I painted it with MMSMP in Artissimo, which is a navy/indigo.  I finished it with hemp oil, which makes the color nice and dark.  This is my 4th dresser in Artissimo.  I used it on the Hudson and the 1890’s dresser, but it is also one of the first MMS colors I ever used.  Way back when I was a newbie.  And I’ll confess, I thought there was no way I would ever use it again.  I didn’t know about the hemp oil back then and I over-waxed it with Briwax resulting in a rather shiny finish.  But, I’ve learned since then, and now I love working with this color.

  It also is Ken the handyman’s favorite of all the colors I’ve used.  Actually, it would truly be more accurate to say that this is the only color I use that Ken likes at all (except black, as he says).  He really doesn’t get the whole furniture painting thing.  That’s OK, he doesn’t have to like ’em, he just has to fix ’em.

You can see that I didn’t really get any chipping on this one.  I think that I have lost my touch when it comes to the chippy.  I’ve painted numerous pieces in the last couple of weeks, and none have chipped.  At all.  Nada.  Is it me?  Is it the weather?  I’ve wondered if it’s the humidity.  All winter I was painting in the house with the heat on, and I got chipping galore.

My neighbor, nnK, thinks this one would look great in someone’s cabin.  I agree.  You could keep all the towels and swimsuits in it, or maybe your sweaters for those chilly days at the lake.  It would look awesome in a rustic room with a patriotic color scheme of red, white and blue.

I once again tried my hand at stripping the top and just waxing it.  I used Citristrip to strip it, sanded it and then waxed with my own combination of Johnson’s Paste Wax and a dark Briwax.  There were some pretty major discolorations on top of this dresser, and I didn’t want it to end up looking perfect.  I wanted it to show its age.  I am starting to get the hang of this stripping thing, which was one of my goals for this summer.  It’s good to meet your goals.

I replaced the knobs that came on the dresser with some that look old, but are faux old.  I feel pretty certain that the white porcelain knobs that came with it are not original.  The scale and the style were all wrong for this guy.

I will have this dresser at my occasional sale unless someone wants to snatch it up sooner than that.

Even if you don’t think you need a new dresser, wouldn’t it be fun to freshen up one of your rooms with this one?    You can always sell your old one on craigslist!

 

I never would have bought this color based on the sample chips.  I also never would have found it appealing based on the Annie Sloan description, a ‘warm greyed brown’.  Brown?  Me?  No way.

Then I saw a dresser painted in it.  Yes way!  Lovely.  So I purchased a can of Annie Sloan’s Coco and brought it home.

And I decided to use it on the Bryn Mawr vanity.  You remember, the orange-y companion to the dresser that I picked up in Bryn Mawr.

I wanted to get some more practice with stripping and staining, so I stripped the top and refinished it with the General Finishes Java gel.

It was the perfect pairing.  The dark Java finish on top with the Coco on the bottom.  I could just eat this one up.

I’m calling it a vanity, but I don’t have a mirror for it.  Perhaps I should just call it a desk.  It’s a nice petite size, which would be perfect tucked into the corner of a living room or bedroom.

I staged this with one of the alabaster lamps I picked up at the Linden Hills sales.  I actually came home with three of them!  And I happened to find the perfect shade for it in my stash.

This guy does have a bit of a flaw.  I thought the dark finish would cover up some stains on the top, and they are still visible.

But I am sure that someone out there will be able to overlook that because otherwise this vanity/desk is quite lovely.

I like this side view shot because it gives you a good look at how nicely the Coco and the Java gel work together.

I’m sure this one will go home with some lucky new owner.  Will it be you?

It is posted on craigslist for those of you in the Twin City area.  Woops, missed it, this one is SOLD.

Mr. Q picked up this dresser the other day.  I was drawn to the wreath applique on the middle drawer.  It hearkens back to my shabby chic days.  I still like a well placed applique.

This one had some veneer problems at the bottom that someone tried to fix with a red marker.  Not with much success.

Anyway, here is where our story begins.  I had just seen a gorgeous dresser that Miss Mustard Seed herself painted recently.  She used an undercoat of Luckett’s Green, some well placed vaseline, and then a top coat of Boxwood.  She also left the top unpainted.  When I saw this dresser, I thought to myself “yes, this would be perfect for that very same look!”

I got to work.

I stripped the top, sanded it and then just waxed it with dark wax.  So far, so good.  Easy and the results were lovely.

Next, I painted two coats of MMSMP in Luckett’s Green.  Then, I strategically rubbed some hemp oil in areas where I wanted to distress the final color to reveal the Luckett’s underneath.  Next, I added two coats of Boxwood.

Let me add here that I know all of the rules.  Or at least I think I do.  I mixed my paint ahead of time and let it sit to be sure the pigments were dissolved.  I shook.  I stirred.  I let it rest again.  I shook.  I stirred.  The paint looked good to me.  No lumps.  I stirred frequently while painting.  Basically once between each side, and between each drawer.

I let it dry, and then I started distressing.  I worked on the body of the dresser first, and it was turning out absolutely beautiful.  I was excited.  Then I started on the drawers.  They weren’t looking quite as good as the body, but I thought it was just me.  Finally, I waxed everything and put it all back together.

Oh my.

I don’t even want to put my name on this one.

It’s awful.  If anything, it looked even more awful in person than it does in this photo.

The green on the drawers had far more yellow in it than the body of the dresser.  And I hated it.

I was crestfallen (isn’t that a great word?).  Horrified, really.  I had spent ALL day on this.  And it was hideous.

Sometimes I just have to walk away.  Put the dresser in the corner with its face to the wall to consider its bad behavior.  Go three days without even looking at it.  In the end, I figured I had a number of options.

I could try repainting the drawers with another batch of paint, as I have done in the past with two other dressers in milk paint greens.  But the danger in this plan is that I could end up with the same problem all over again.

I could repaint the entire thing in another color all together.  Specifically I was thinking of some Annie Sloan chalk paint because I knew I wouldn’t have the same coloration problem.  But, I also knew I wouldn’t be able to replicate this fabulous chippy look with Annie Sloan.  And this dresser just needed to be chippy.

  Final option … I could try painting just the drawers white and see how it looks.  I just loved the way the body of the dresser had turned out and I didn’t want to cover it up.

I mean, really, just look at this gorgeous leg.

Would you want to cover that up?

So … I sanded the drawers really well (remember, they had already been waxed), mixed up some MMSMP in Linen, and painted it on.  I could see a lot of chipping showing up pretty quickly.  I was nervous.  Would it be too much chipping because of the wax?

And here it is.  Yes, there is plenty of chipping on the drawers.  But I really think the chippyness works with this style of dresser.

I love the white and green combo.  It’s fresh.

You can see that in most spots I got chipping right down to the wood on the drawers, but some spots just chipped to the green undercoats.

Here is the top.

 This dresser has a fresh spring garden appeal to it.  I’m sure it will be perfect in someone’s fabulous home.

If you are interested in purchasing it, leave me a comment.