If you’ve seen the last two drawer repair posts, you know this piece has basically been through surgery. Looks can be deceiving. While the outside of this “looks” pretty nice, the top and the inside were a wreck (a duct tape wreck to be precise)!
Once that was cleaned up and repaired, it was time to finally paint and make this piece pretty.
Since this piece seemed to be all about the drawers, I also decided to make the drawers pop with some polka dots! Because, why not!
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I first painted the inside and outside of the drawers to give a nice clean surface to work with (I used Millstone Milk Paint).
Then, I grabbed the new Chalk Couture Polka Dot transfer to make this job a whole lot easier. I honestly think the bigger transfers are a little tricky to work with, so I cut mine in half.
Line it up straight and stick it to the side of the drawer. I chose to use Midnight Sky Chalk Paste for this to give a little extra color. I applied it with a small squeegee all over the transfer.
Remove the excess, and work quickly because this stuff dries fast!
Peel back the transfer, and you are left with perfect polka dots!
Repeat on each drawer side. Since the paste does dry so quickly it wasn’t long before I was able to flip the drawer over and do the other side.
One word of warning. Anytime you are applying Chalk Couture transfers to old or rough wood, there’s a risk that it will pull up with the transfer. Be sure to “fuzz” your transfer well before applying it to a wood surface, and BE SURE THE PAINT IS DRY!! Like let it dry overnight!!
*Fuzz your transfer by sticking it to your shirt**
Once the paste is dry, apply a clear spray to make it permanent.
The outside of this little chest was painted in a mix of Patina Green and Driftwood Milk paint. Recipe: 1/2 c. Patina Green to 1 tablespoon of Driftwood. It was the perfect combo.
I mentioned the top was in rough shape. It still is not perfect, but I love the character of it. This piece is clearly very old, so the top shows some of that age.
I sanded it down with 80 grit sandpaper on my pad sander, filled a few holes and gouges with wood filler and stained the top with Antique Walnut Gel Stain. The color is the perfect warm brown against the aqua blue chest. The top was sealed with Arm-R-Seal which gave it just enough shine.
Aren’t the drawers so fun?! The small knobs I had in my stash, but these big wood/mother of pearl knobs came from World Market.
This piece will be available at Eleven Eleven Gifts this weekend. I can’t wait to see who takes it home. It would be the perfect media stand, or bed side chest.
Until next time, happy painting!
Jenni
