Happy Thursday! Today we’re participating in Themed Furniture Makeover Day. Here’s a quick recap if you’re new here. TFMD is a monthly furniture makeover challenge. Each month, we’re given a new theme and tasked with making over a piece of furniture based on that theme. This month the theme is “Coastal”.
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I have to admit, I really hated this piece when we picked it up at the thrift store. It only has three full sized drawers, but it had tons of lines and hardware to make it look like more. It just felt super heavy and clunky to me.
After a little measuring, we realized we could purchase wood moulding the exact depth and width as the ridges in the drawers. We cut the moulding to size, then glued and nailed it in place. We used wood filler to fill in the gaps and give it a smooth finish.
Once we finished filling in all the holes and lines we sanded the top down to raw wood. The rest of the piece got a base coat of Annie Sloan’s Old White chalk paint.
We really wanted the top to look like weathered driftwood, and I kind of wanted the whole piece to look like it could have washed up on a beach somewhere.
For the top we used General Finishes “Gray” Gel Stain. Here’s a quick rundown of the process I used to get the weathered look.
First, I used a spray bottle to dampen the entire top with water. Next, I put a latex glove on my hand, then a sock over top of the glove. I dipped the sock in the stain, then wiped in onto the damp wood surface. I worked in sections, making sure to go from one side all the way to the other. Then I immediately used a wet rag to wipe off most of the stain. This let the wood grain show through and made the wood look like it was simply weathered and worn. It was super hot outside while I was working on it, so I resprayed each section with water as I went.
1.) Spray 2.) Stain 3.) Wipe 4.) Done
The rest of the piece got a couple coats of Annie Sloan’s Duck Egg Blue chalk paint. When that was dry, I used my favorite sander to distress it. I wanted to let both the white paint and some of the wood underneath show through. You can see in this quick picture I took with my phone what the drawers looked like before distressing (left) and how they started to look like after.
The new hardware is from Hobby Lobby, and I decided to decoupage the sides of the drawers. It’s one of my favorite things to do to give furniture a little extra something special.
I thought this scrapbook paper was reminiscent of the scales on a mermaid’s tail. I used Mod Podge to adhere the paper to the drawer. One layer under the paper, then another layer over. The paper was black and white and it felt a little too clean to me, so after the Mod Podge was dry I lightly went over it with the same GF gray stain I used for the top. After it dried for just a few seconds I used a damp cloth to wipe some of it away.
I haven’t sealed the piece yet. Mostly because I haven’t decided what I want to seal the top with. I don’t want it to have any sheen at all because I think it’ll take away from the weathered, driftwood look. The rest of the piece will probably be sealed with my go-to sealer, GF top coat.
Ready to see the rest of the Coastal Themed makeovers? Check out the pictures below, and if you see one you like, click it to see the full tutorial.
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You have such vision for how a piece of furntiure should look. What a special gift! This chest is another perfect piece. Love it so much. Congrats on a great makeover.
You always leave the sweetest comments, Susie! Thank you. xo
You’ve done it again. Coastal perfection! The top and the entire paint distressing is jaw dropping. Beautiful job!
Thank you so much, Robin!
LOVE LOVE LOVE – You are so creative! The transformation of this dresser is fabulous! Love the new look and your color choices. Great job!
Thank you!!!
This is perfection! I love it so much! Nice job!
Thanks so much, Lindsay!
Stunning!! This says coastal to me in every way! Love how you were so inventive in filling in the drawer fronts! XO
Thank you!!
Wow, this piece is gorgeous – I love everything about it. Congrats on an amazing makeover!
Thanks so much, Jeanie!
Oh my gosh, you would never know that was the same dresser – gorgeous makeover, Amy! Love those handles too.
Thank you, Marie! My husband didn’t believe me at first when I told him it was the same dresser :). It was a fun piece to work on.
Just what I imagine when I think of Coastal style. All of the details and styling are magazine worthy to say the least! Stellar piece!
Oh gosh, Lucy, you’re too kind! Thank you for saying that. I really appreciate it!
WOW! what a transformation! All that work paid off! Stunning~H
Hugs,
Karin
Thanks so much, Karin!!
It looks 200 times better! I scrolled between the before and after about 3 times, and then finally kept reading to see that you filled in the gaps – so much better. And the finish you did on the top is perfection!
Haha! When I was finished with it I was showing my husband, I pulled up the before pic on my computer and he looked back and forth between the two and said that’s not the same piece! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by! xo
Amazing transformation! I never would have guessed that the end result was the piece that you started out with. Filling in the drawer fronts with molding was a great idea. The top color and paint colors that you used look so nice together. Great job!
Thank you!!
Beautiful, have you ever used Modern Masyers Dead Flat Varnish
Wonderful product it will seal everything and no sheen, as a faux finisher I have use it for years on walks, murals etc I think u will live it
I haven’t used Dead Flat yet but I’ll definitely check it out! It sounds like exactly what I need for the top. Thanks for the tip!!
Love this!
Thank you!!
Absolutely LOVE the colors you chose! The distressing is just perfect! Wish I had this in my home. It’s one of the cutest pieces of furniture I’ve seen in a long time!!! Thank you for sharing it with us!!
Thank you, Lorraine! I’m glad you stopped by!
Amy,
The process you took to create this look is brilliant. Each detail gives the piece a character all its own.
Happy Creating.
Karen Marie
Thank you, Karen! It was definitely a process but such a fun piece to work on. I appreciate you comment!!
It’s so beautiful! My favorite color! I love all the extra touches you did, too, like the paper on the drawer sides and the jute wrapped handles!!! Thanks for sharing at Dream. Create. Inspire. Link!
Thanks so much, Samantha!
I think this is my new favorite piece of yours, Amy! It’s beautiful! Love the driftwood look! Have a great week! xo
Amy, love your new Dresser. The transformation is unbelievable. I would never have seen that you could have made that “ugly” piece of furniture into a great weathered Beachy treasure. Another great and creative job . Was happy to see that you are spending the summer with the boys. How is Max doing? No trouble with his ears at the pool. Hope you have a wonderful time at Austin’s graduation. Such a special time. I’ve missed your blog, but fall will be here before we know it and you’ll be back on the computer. Enjoy the rest of your summer. Love you, my dear friend.
hi canary street crafts,
i’m a first timer with annie sloan paint. i fall in love every time i see a duck egg blue piece but when i got my quart and opened it, it is SO DARK. not the pale blue i dreamt of. my piece has a two layer base of linen white. i put some d e b on it and it looks nothing like pieces i’ve seen! it’s an ugly dark colonial bluish grey. what am i doing wrong? should i be cutting it in half with linen white? i’m afraid to go any further. your coastal dresser is a beautiful, pale blue. any advice? thank you!
Hi Marsha! I’m sorry the color isn’t what you were expecting! It definitely has a lot of green and gray in it. I think it looks lighter on this piece because there’s a lot of white showing through. You’re not doing anything wrong! I know it sounds weird but I feel like the paint looks different on different pieces.
You can absolutely try cutting it with white paint to tone it down. Try putting white paint in a cup and slowly adding DEB until you get the color you want. (If you measure your paint as you mix, you’ll know the ratio for making a bigger batch. For instance, if you put 1 cup of white in, then use 1/4 cup DEB, your ratio is 4 parts white and 1 part DEB).
I mixed pure white and DEB for this dresser and it came out a lovely pale blue. Probably much closer to the color you were hoping for. http://canarystreetcrafts.com/farmhouse-style-dresser-makeover/.
I hope you’re able to make it the color you were hoping for! xo
Great job! Loving the new finish and the drawer pulls too!
Thank you, Susan!
I really love seeing this Amy, it quite fantastic and has given me some ideas for a dresser that I want to work on. When you were sanding, what grit did you use?
Thank you
Darren
Hi Darren! For the distressing I used a fine grit sanding block.