Monday, July 21, 2014

Working on the weekend

Over the weekend I completed two projects while carefully averting my eyes from the third. I was ignoring a HUGE dresser that is mostly done, but I needed a break. Here's the before picture (I do have the top drawer):


Purdy, huh? It was a Craigslist find and the seller told me his job involves foreclosed houses and that in one house this dresser was the only thing left behind. Imagine that.

The trouble with a giant piece of furniture is that it is giant. Simple as that. I'm ready for it to be done long before it actually is. However, I will persevere and finish it this week. Besides, its Giantness is in the living room right now.

So, on to what DID get done.

I found this little table at the As-Is store and I was so excited! Then I got it home only to see that all the veneer had to be removed from the top. Well. Guess we're gonna go with the 'raw' look.
 

I found the burlap backdrop at an estate sale. I have no idea what they were for. They are enormous drawstring sacks, about 5' by 7'. Once they were filled how on earth were they moved? The mind boggles. They make terrific backdrops though.
 Aside from adding the star, I just put wax on the top. The star was done with a fat Sharpie and then rubbed into the wood. Carefully.

 Texture, texture!

And more texture. I layered paint over paint and wax and sanding. First I dry brushed Annie Sloan CoCo, then French Linen. I sanded a little and dry brushed a light gray I'd mixed up. Then APC Home Plate, sanding and dark wax.

For the top I used Fidders Jacobean dark wax which is amazing stuff.

It sounds like a lot of work doesn't it? It's really not. The dry brushing is random and haphazard. Sometimes I don't even wait for the previous coat to dry.

My finished little western table.

4 comments:

  1. I am most impressed with your staging of the photos you take. Love it - and working on it. I still work with latex paint but your pieces and tutorials are really making me want to try milk paint and wax. Love the effects. Thanks for the helpful posts. BTW where is the other weekend project?

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    1. I KNEW I was forgetting something! I meant to say in the post that the second project was coming soon, but I forgot. I'm working on it though!

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  2. Love it! Question: Does rubbing the sharpie into the wood help prevent it from smearing when you add the wax or poly? I just did a piece using a sharpie and let it dry for well over 24 hours and it still smudged when I added poly.
    Marie@The Interior Frugalista

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    Replies
    1. Rubbing it in definitely helps with the smearing but you do have to let it set overnight or longer. Then I dab wax or poly on the sharpie instead of wiping it. When that's good and dry I proceed like normal. But carefully. It can still smear a little so I'm ready with q-tips to clean up as I go.

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