The 1970's were good for something!!

Having grown up in the '70's, I can tell you decor and clothing were, well, icky. 

But isn't it funny how things come around again??? Mid century modern furniture is hot, hot, hot right now.  And I've found that these chunky '70's dressers look phenomenal painted in glossy bright colors. The choices are endless. I had a listing for this one, ready for custom paint. A lady contacted me and said she wanted it done in navy for her nursery (boy). 

the pic is upside down cuz I had it stored on top of another. Yes I am hoarding if you must know. 

This one was in pretty rough shape. The wood was really rough and splintering. I spend many hours just prepping this one for paint. Tons of sanding and patching drawers. What I dislike about this era is they went to the stapling of drawers, cheap glides/tracks and MDF and or plastic moulding. Ick. 

A Few of the drawers were coming apart and they were so rough, you wouldn't dream of putting anything delicate inside for fear of snagging.  So sanding, wood filler, wood glue, shellac and primer to the rescue!  My client wanted a dark teal for the accent color on the sides. 

The drawers took me longer to do than the entire thing. After sanding the sides, I put on a coat of shellac and then 2 coats of paint. Then a poly coat went over that! This teal color was "flat" and I didn't want to leave it since the gray was a semi-gloss.  All the hardware was cleaned and scrubbed and given a few coats of Pure Gold and then a clear coat enamel. 

After sanding the body smooth, I applied a shellac coat, then Kilz white primer (just to hide any spots) and then I went over that with gray primer. I could have skipped the white primer I suppose.  The gray primer was so close in color to the paint, it made it difficult to see missed spots! 

Originally I had planned on using my HVLP spray because of the intricate drawers.
However, this prepping took so many hours that I ended up giving a first coat by hand.
Sometimes a sprayer doesn't get all the nooks. 

 So all the drawers and body got a first (sometimes 2nd) coat of paint. Then it got fine sanded. You could really see the "faux wood grain" on the drawer fronts. I did spray, but got that orange peel finish. I ended up sanding the top down and brushing on the last coat. I have a very good brush and used BM Advance paint with floetrol, so I hardly got any brush marks.  BTW, the color she picked was BM "Hale Navy".  The teal is MS "Plumage".  The Pure Gold is by Rustoleum.

She promised to send me a pic of the dresser in its new surroundings! Can't wait to see how it looks.

Linkwithin

Kammys Korner - Trash to Treasure Tuesdays

Domestically Speaking - The Power of Paint Party

                                Stacey Embracing Change - Thursday 

                         Miss Mustardseed - Furniture Feature Friday

Redoux - Friday Link Up Party

Funky Junk Interiors - Saturday Night Special

A Stroll Thru Life - Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesday-Elizabeth and Co., My uncommon Slice of Suburbia,

Savvy Southern Style. Weds, Beyond the Picket Fence, PJH Designs

From my Front Porch to Yours,  The 36th Avenue,

Monday-Between Naps on the Porch, The Dedicated House,
BoogieBoardCottage-Mon party

My RePurposed Life, No Minimalist Here-Thurs.    
Under the Table and Dreaming-Sunday Party                                    

Wood wall art/headboard

Feels so good to be working again! That whooping cough took me out of the loop for awhile!  I was finally able to finish my sons headboard/wall art to go above his platform bed. For that post, click here

 



The sleeping portion of his room. You're looking through the opening of the wall we cut into to make his room larger. That half is his "hang-out" part. TV, computer, futon for friends to sleep over, etc. 

 The boards above are what I started with. I ripped all of them into 1" pieces and then cut those to fit like a wood floor. Alternating lengths.  

             Once the boards were cut down, each one got sanded, stained and coated with a sealer. I laid them out on the plywood to determine the size I wanted. 

    Here is a shot of the room before we did the acid staining concrete treatment. 

 The plywood backing board was squared off and framed. You have to make sure your measurements are dead on to avoid ending up with the last row being way off. As it was, I had to plane off almost an 1/8" of an inch due to some of the boards bowing and taking up more room. 

I tried different bedding ensembles!

Linking up at my fave parties!! :

Kammys Korner - Trash to Treasure Tuesdays

Domestically Speaking - The Power of Paint Party

                                Stacey Embracing Change - Thursday 

                         Miss Mustardseed - Furniture Feature Friday

Redoux - Friday Link Up Party

Funky Junk Interiors - Saturday Night Special

A Stroll Thru Life - Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesday-Elizabeth and Co., My uncommon Slice of Suburbia,

Savvy Southern Style. Weds, Beyond the Picket Fence, PJH Designs

From my Front Porch to Yours,  The 36th Avenue,

Monday-Between Naps on the Porch, The Dedicated House,
BoogieBoardCottage-Mon party

My RePurposed Life, No Minimalist Here-Thurs.    
Under the Table and Dreaming-Sunday Party                                    

GF Lamp Black on a Gimpy Vintage Buffet

I have heard all sorts of wonderful things about General Finishes Milk paint, specifically

Lamp Black, that I finally got around to giving it a whirl. 

This isn't really milk paint. It's an acrylic paint that is hands down better than any other black paint I have used. I love the way it brushes and finishes so dang smooth! 

Like buttah! 

Here is my beautiful amputee buffet that I started with. (Is it ok to end with a preposition?)

Anyhoo,,,the seller did have the leg. 

       I must have glued this four different times. It's a bad spot. Every time I moved it, it 
       broke again. I was unable to get the nailer into it for a more secure hold.  Whatever. 

I really dig the mahogany top with black. The contrast is amazing. I stripped off the majority of the existing finish, and sanded the rest to even it out. 

                                                  3 coats of wipe on GF urethane

I find it next to impossible to capture decent photos of black pieces using a flash.  

I did a lot of layering with blues and greens to break up the black a bit. Trust me when I say the photos don't do this justice. The colors are much more subtle in person. The flash just does horrible things! The distressing to highlight the colors are also much milder. 

The two smaller drawers got lined with this cool decorative wrap paper that I found online.  

Overall, I love this paint! This piece got two coats with sanding in between and a wax finish. 

 I know, I know.  That leg looks a little askew. Sigh. It must have gotten moved while drying. 

Moved it across the room under my leopard photograph. 

Linking up at my fave parties!! :

Kammys Korner - Trash to Treasure Tuesdays

Domestically Speaking - The Power of Paint Party

                                Stacey Embracing Change - Thursday 

                         Miss Mustardseed - Furniture Feature Friday

Redoux - Friday Link Up Party

Funky Junk Interiors - Saturday Night Special

A Stroll Thru Life - Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesday-Elizabeth and Co., My uncommon Slice of Suburbia,

Savvy Southern Style. Weds, Beyond the Picket Fence, PJH Designs

From my Front Porch to Yours,  The 36th Avenue,

Monday-Between Naps on the Porch, The Dedicated House,
BoogieBoardCottage-Mon party

My RePurposed Life, No Minimalist Here-Thurs.    
Under the Table and Dreaming-Sunday Party                                    

House on the Way-Tuesday