My Little Chest Before & After...



C'mon…what did you think I meant?


When I was little, my mom bought a bedside table and a lingerie chest at an unfinished furniture store...with every intention of making them pretty.

That didn't happened.


One day, in the late 1990's, while I was home from fashion school in L.A. to help my daddy…who had cancer, I decided it was time for a make-over.  

I hauled the chest from wherever it'd been dwelling, removed the pulls, grabbed my beloved block-sander, a gift from my big brother Bryan, and went to work.

(First, I CAREFULLY HIT IT ALL OVER WITH A HAMMER…the chest, not the sander)


After vacuuming away the dust from every nook and cranny, and wiping it down with a slightly damp cloth, I applied at least one layer of Daniel Smith's Black Acrylic Gesso.

GESSO?


Yep, gesso.



After that dried, I applied some leftover forest green paint (hey, it was the 90's) and then a layer of some sort of white.




I'm thrifty that way.


After a light sanding and an unfortunate rub of some "antiquing" variety…I gave it a good wax.
(it makes things nice and shiny without looking like plastic)


Voilà!




A couple of decades is all it took!!!
(Oh, and I swiped the knobs off of Bryan's childhood dresser to replace what was left of the ones original to the chest.  It okay…it was just housing discarded parts & tools in the garage.)




Oh, and the bedside table…it's still not pretty.


In other news,


It's the second week of the New Year…when is the last time you cleaned out & organized your handbag??
………………………………….


Happy Monday!


: )


Julie M.


To see more photos, including many from the holidays, please visit my facebook page, where you can also follow The Little Red Shop, or you can visit us via Pinterest and Twitter


Please visit Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday.









Comments

Alison Agnew said…
your chest
is so purty

the wooden one
i mean ;)

alison
Anonymous said…
This is gorgeous! I love the variations in color. Very inspirational piece!

Sharon
citicasita said…
I like the look, wish I could see the full view.I wonder if the gesso works like Annie Sloan chalk Paint?
I might just try it! Thanks for sharing.
Diddie
Anonymous said…
Yes, I'll admit that my first thought was plastic surgery. ;)

Seriously, great job on the chest, though. I always think I'm going to tackle such a project but then I never do! Well, I think you should have used the hammer on the sander just to see what would happen. ;) Har-har!
Love it=)..And i organized my purse last week, only because my sister gave me an awesome new bag for Christmas! Happy New Year!!
Hollie
Patty & Kenneth said…
Hello Julie, thanks for stopping by my blog. It's nice to meet you, I enjoyed ready your blog and meeting Georgie! Take care.
love the purse and the piece you refinished...it is beautiful...you are so talented at gettig the right patina...
Stopping by from Met Monday! Love that piece your refinished! I like the distressed look!

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