I found another chest of drawers the other day on the way to work. I seem to find a lot of chests, dressers and chairs.
What was wrong with it:
– Missing drawer…check.
– Missing drawer pulls…check.
– Jacked up laminate covered top…check.
– Drawer that needed to be repaired…check.
Other than those things, it was in really good shape…except for that hideous blue that looked like a reject color from the Martha Stewart Living paint collection. What exactly would you call that shade…”Smurfs On Acid”?
First off I repaired the drawer, which was simply adding some Gorilla Glue to the dovetail joints and tapping them back into place. I then had to decide what to do about the missing drawer. I’ve seen many transformations on Pinterest and Flickr where the person would simply place a basket into the opening. I don’t like that look. So I decided that I would just cut the piece down and make it a 3 drawer chest instead of 4.
I removed the top from the piece, and when I did I discovered that it was simply chipboard that was covered with cheap laminate. The beveled edges were the only pieces that were wood. What to do? Throw that crap in the trash, that’s what to do! So that’s what I did. But unfortunately a chest of drawers with no top is just plain stupid not practical, so I knew that I had to come up with a solution.
I decided to cut a new top using the old top as a template. That’s what you would have done, right? Unfortunately, because I was to cheap and lazy to buy a big enough piece of wood didn’t have a big enough piece of wood to cover the whole top, I had to improvise by using two pieces and then gluing them together. In case you haven’t guessed, Gorilla glue is one of my best friends.
I was too lazy to look for my clamps couldn’t find my clamps, so I used blue painters tape to hold the pieces together while they dried. After the piece dried, I sanded off the excess glue and all of the rough edges, removed the tape and attached it to the base using screws.
The whole piece and all three drawers got 2 coats of homemade chalk paint. This is a new color for me (I’m trying to branch out from doing everything in white). I bought one of the sample sizes of Behr paint for $2.98 at Home Depot and then added 3 tablespoons of Plaster of Paris. The color is very close to Annie Sloane’s chalk paint color called French Linen. I figured since the piece was French style, it should have a French paint color.
I waxed the entire piece as I usually do, but it was still looking a little flat and it had that “fresh from the factory” finish to it. I knew that I didn’t want to distress this one and I thought it needed some sparkle and sexiness. Martha Stewart to the rescue (not that I think of her when I think of sparkle and sexy). I have always wanted to try glazing a piece of furniture, and I found this product when I was at Home Depot. It is Martha Stewart Living metallic glaze and the color is called Muscovado. I thought, “Well, the name sounds sexy.” Then I opened the lid and saw the glaze itself. It’s a beautiful metallic copper color…and there’s the sparkle. Maybe oh Martha is sexy after all…whatever!
So I brushed on the glaze with a stencil brush, in long strokes. As I wanted a subtle finish, I lightly wiped some of it off with a soft cloth.
Next I had to address the missing drawer pulls. Anytime that I am out junking and I come across a piece of furniture that someone has thrown out, I always look for the drawer pulls. Sometimes the piece may be made of particle board, but will have fabulous knobs. So, if I can’t use the whole piece, I will remove the knobs and save them for something else.
As I was going for the whole sexy look, and as the drawers were devoid of any ornamentation, I knew that I wanted pulls that would be a little over the top…and sexy! I dug into my stash and came out with these. I think these came off of one of those huge honkin’ dresser units that were popular in the 70s. With all of those curls and swirls and that aged bronze finish, I knew these would be perfect. Don’t they look like something you would see in a harem in Arabian Nights? I know, I’ve jumped from French to Arabian in the same post, but stick with me.
So, after all of the cutting, repairing, sanding, painting and glazing, we have this…
Sexy! A word of caution, don’t stare at her too much, as she is so sexy that people have been known to get pregnant just by looking her. 😉
Keep creating.
Clif
Clif Creations 