I Love My POC

Have you ever bought a dresser and then thought to yourself, "what was I thinking", oh, I always do. And so because of this my husband thinks I have a soft heart for the unloved furniture that most people would either throw in the dumpster or burn, thus, the unloved furniture syndrome. As soon as I loaded this piece in my SUV, it started to fall apart, really that fast.  But I loved the hardware on it and. I'm a sucker for great hardware. I really do have a soft spot for the unloved furniture. You know, it's kind of a challenge.

The main thing that's holding this dresser together is the wood filler.  One drawer completely fell apart, and the rest of them had to be reglued and nailed, and one simply had to be made new from scratch.  I sanded until my fingers were sore, but the more I worked on it the more excited I was to see how it would turn out.

So my husband made a whole new drawer and we only used the old front of it because the rest was so warped, broken, and just falling apart.  Now, let me tell you how we referred to this piece of furniture.  POC, Piece of Crap.  I didn't give it that name, but Doug did as soon as he saw it, and so the name stuck until we were done.

I knew I wanted to paint it a color similar to ASCP Duck Egg Blue, so I went over to Altard's blog and Mandi has compared Behr and Sherwin Williams paints to Annie's paint colors. She has saved us all so much work, thanks Mandi.  This is S.W. Halcyon Green and is beautiful.  I lightly distressed and glazed with Valspar glaze.

The old mirror was missing so, hubby replicated the skirt on the bottm of the dresser for a accent trim to take the mirror's place. It took away the emptiness on the top and made it look more complete

This one is one of my favorite redo's of all time, I don't know why, but I sure like how it turned out.  The dresser is completely functional now and will brighten any one's home.

Thanks for stopping by, I love your comments and

new follower's as well.

Beautiful Highboy

So my kids were split on this one, half of them liked the back splash and half thought it looked out of place.  So I refinished it and decided to give the new owner the choice if they wanted it on or not.  This dresser is one of the heaviest pieces of furniture that I've worked on.  It looks really sound and like there's not much work to do here, but I discovered that all the drawer guides were broken. 

As you can see one knob is missing and the latch to one of the handles is gone.  I took them to an antique restoration guy and he not only had close matches but he also fixed the handle for me on the spot.  He has the greatest workshop, I hope some time to feature his place.

I was really bad about taking pictures during the prep work.  I recruited my hubby and he made new drawer guides for four of the five drawers.  I had tried to use the plastic drawer guides that you staple on the back of the drawer, but none fit quite right, and besides,that would be too easy, 

 right?

I used S.W. antique white and made my homemade chalk paint with it for the base.  For the drawers I used S.W. intellectual Grey.  I love Sherwin Williams sample's.  They were having a sale last week and so for $4.50 I got a quart of paint in satin.  You can't beat that with a stick!!  So I stocked up on a bunch of great colors that I've been wanting to try.

I lightly sanded it then finished it off with Min Wax rub on poly.  I always use a poly finish when I paint furniture with latex.  It seals it so much better and also prevents the drawers from sticking to the base if you let it cure properly.

The back splash didn't look like it came with the piece originally but when looking more closely I think it really did. It will be fun to see which way the customer goes on it.

I love how it turned out, I could easily put this in my home and have it fit right in.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I love your comments

and new followers as well.

Beautiful Rosette's

I found this fun piece in the garage of a lady who was getting rid of some of their antique's.  I fell for this one because I have a thing for small pieces.  I have to admit though, the decorations on the front,or the large rosettes are kind of funky.  I can't decide if I like them because I've never seen one's this big, or because they are cool looking, I can't decide which.  Either way I really like this piece.

It's really well made so I'll just add some homemade chalk paint and restain the top.

I used Swiss Coffee for the body and plaster of paris for the homemade chalk paint recipe. 

The mixture for the chalk paint is 3 parts paint to 1 part plaster of paris.  Mix the plaster of paris with a little water first so that you get all of the lumps out of it.  Add it to your paint and then add just a little more water to that mixture until you get the right consistancy.  This recipe has always worked for me and I love how easy it is.

I stained it with Min Wax dark walnut and then used rub on Min Wax poly to seal the whole thing.

I distressed it before using the rub on poly, and also used Rustoleum bronze spray for the hardware.  I love how it turned out.

                                                       Thanks so much for stopping by,
                                            I love your comments and new follower's as well.