Not often does Mrs. Smith get the opportunity to paint - after all, that is my job in this partnership. Needless to say - I have been on the road quite a bit in the last two months, without much time to get some projects finished. Mrs. Smith asked me to clean up this "junk find" 4-drawer dresser and paint it black so she could create a subway sign piece of art. Well - Black I did not have, but CeCe Caldwell's has a Vermont Slate that gets pretty close when it is waxed and shined - so we went for it. Here is the piece we got from our friend Wanda for under $20.
Very simple dresser... I did not have to do much structurally to this - it is a pretty sound piece of wood. I removed the porcelain knobs that had a rose and some gold accents... and painted with Vermont Slate. After the first coat, I cross-sanded (sanded against the brush strokes) to get a smoother finish, then added another coat.
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This is when Mrs. Smith took over and created some subway signs with different fonts - very simple - printing a large font then taping the sheets of paper together to make the words. She (and I hepled on one of them) traced the back side of the word with a pencil, then taped it to the appropriate drawer and rubbed the pencil lead onto the drawers. Then she removed the paper and carefully painted in the words with CeCe Caldwell's Young Kansas Wheat.
As you can see we have a London theme going on here. So after sanding with 150 grit over the entire piece, I applied the CeCe Caldwell Clear Wax (it was High Tea time as the wax smells so good - like honey). Then after waiting a few hours - I buffed the wax in to get a hard shinny black finish. I have learned after using the natural wax that you do not want to apply it too heavily, or you will have to wait overnight to finish the buffing. By applying a light coat, you get the same finish and it is completed in minimal time.
Also a nice touch - remember this is an upcycled piece of furniture - check out the drawer lining below. Gives this set of drawers a little more character. I did not add that - that was already in there - but I didn't feel it needed fixing. Someone will love this in their bedroom. Dreaming of London...
I hope you enjoyed this latest creation of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Come back for more. This will be for sale at the upcoming Burlap Harlot show over Mother's Day weekend in Anderson, CA. Check out some of our other great pieces of upcycled and salvage furniture at TheSmithHotelBoutique.
Mr. Smith
Linked to:
Primp
Primitive and Proper
Funky Junk Interiors
Decorating Insanity Furniture Friday
Domestically Speaking Power of Paint Party
Kammy's Korner
