Heavily distressing…..for a distressed antique dresser

This week I am working on catching up on life. I have quite a few “balls in the air” and am mid-project on at least three things. As I finish up, have a look at this dresser refresh from a few years ago. Hopefully you’ll gain some inspiration and confidence to try a distressed project of your own.

Ok, before you start to worry, I’m ok… I’m just in a phase… a heavy distressed phase.

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I had some super cool pieces in my stash and just need them to speak to me. Shabby Paints has some fabulous colors and speak they did!

Here is where this started… a sorry state of affairs if you ask me.

Did you get a look at that drawer front? Someone had a rough time of it… “been rode hard and put away wet” as my mom would say…

Don’t get discouraged by peeling. It’s not difficult to fix, just time consuming. Get yourself a decent wood filler product and go to town…

Glue down any lifting veneer pieces. Grab a putty knife and spread on the filler. Then, carefully trim out the areas where the veneer is supposed to be. I used an awl to scrape along the edges and create the shapes then I let it dry. After a coat of Mojito (a beautiful, soft mint green), I just used Hazelnut reVAX like stain on the top and drawer front.

I went to town sanding this baby down. First with my Ryobi orbital sander and then with plain ‘ol elbow grease.

QUICK TIP: Dampening the painted surface with a spritz of water gives a more natural distressed appearance because it rehydrates the outermost layer of paint and the paint “slurry” created fills in brush strokes and swirls/scratches created by sanding.

…and you know what happens when you use wood filler on mahogany and forget to paint or tint it first? Umm, it’s kind of obvious it’s not the same wood. No need to panic…ReVAX (and a tiny artist paintbrush) to the rescue! It tints pretty well..just add additional coats until you get the desired color depth.

Then I gave a try with just changing out the top knobs….

NOPE, those were lovely, but not quite right… So the quest began for what this girl needed. Digging through my huge stash I started texting my poor girlfriend who had to go through EVERY test with me… that’s what friends are for, right? (and for the the record, you can totally send me pictures of every knob you want to try, I will analyze the heck out of it with you)

Eureka! Seriously… it was THIS easy..?! These were originally painted white a gazillion years ago. I just sanded the snot out of them to get this look:

Not wanting to let your last look be in my messy workshop, I lugged this beauty across the yard to get this shot for you:

Pretty stinkin’ awesome, right?

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Around the time I worked on this, I also painted this amazing Antique Trunk. The Trunk uses a hot color called “Pardon Me” Can you guess what shade that is?

I used this same color to paint the kitchen in The Goat Loft too. It’s a bit of a different look and still spectacular.

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