Another Gem Colored Milk Paint Dresser!

I just can't get enough of the stunning colors from the Real Milk Paint Co. !

Last dresser re-do it was a bold cobalt/ultra-marine blue.  This time I'm going

TURQUOISE.  

But first, let me tell you about this score on this dresser.

 Not too bad.  It was obviously a well made piece. Nice type of mahogany. It was in pretty good shape.

The gentleman I bought it from (CL) was one of those storage war people.  Although, he 

said he got this from his uncle who had passed.  He wanted 85 for it. We agreed on $60. 

Had no idea what a score I was about to discover. 

I have never seen handles like this before. I took a quick glance at them and thought 

they were unique. Even the escutcheons were beautiful. Of course he didn't have the key. 

Does anyone ever have the key????

Anyway, got the beauty home and started my work. The handles were nice and hefty. Got out the 

Brasso and started to see how they would shine up. 

Hello!!!! Holy-Solid-Cast-Brass Batman!

Yes. Solid. No plating. I know you know how much solid brass handles cost. 

10 handles and 5 escutcheons.  You do the math.....uh-huh......Scoresville! 

Here's hubs shining the booty up on the polisher.

Want to see what they look like on the finished piece??

Like gold jewelry on a gorgeous gown....check out my Turquoise Baby!!!

I just love this color! I had planned on selling this one. But after seeing how great this color turned

out, and of course this awesome hardware, I think I'm keeping this guy. 

 So I actually used the one marked cobalt blue. However, the rep said that they had an error listing the names, as I told him this color was no where near cobalt. So I really don't know what color this is. The one labeled turquoise is more of a teal. The company was nice enough and sent me two other colors (Peacock and Black) and a jar of their burnishing paste.  It's a matte acrylic topcoat. Sort of like using wax on top of chalk paint.

This totally looks like Bo-bo the clown's dresser. 

After layering on the milk paint.
Once I start sanding, the other colors
will peek thru. 

This shows how I layered on two other colors of chalk paint before painting over the whole
thing with the milk paint.  Milk paint works best on completely bare wood. It went over the chalk paint with no problems.

 It was a paint-fest!!   I have serious issues.  While doing the dresser, I also tried out my milk paint on the new campaign dresser I picked up. Yes..a Baker Campaign dresser. For the paltry sum of $15.00!!! Don't Hate!    I will talk about that painting fiasco in my next post.....Sheesh....                               
                               

                              To bring out the depth in the color, I used a dark wax over all of the paint. 

I hate waxing. It took quite awhile and I couldn't move the next morning. 

For the wood top. I sanded and used a mixture of stains.

All the wood got coated with Tung Oil that I got from Real Milk Paint Co. 

You can read about the oil on my last post on the bold blue dresser. 

And here is a pic of it inside my living room. 

I just kind of threw it in there,,,,haven't really had a chance to decorate around it. 

I think it's time to repaint the room. I'm so not looking forward to that. 

It's not a bad color, i'm just tired of it. 

                                                          One last look at the pretty jewelry!!

Linking up to all my faves below, plus: theshabbycreekcottage.com

and thanks to: "From my Front Porch to Yours" for the feature!

Beachy Subway Art and Beachy Dresser

So it was a pretty good day for sales last week.  Since I don't have a store, I list my items for sale 

on Craigslist. I've actually done quite well. It might take a few weeks, but most everything sells. 

I got a call from a lady who wanted my "Crack-house" dresser #2 and the little nautical table. 

When she came over to pick them up, she mentioned she needed another dresser for her sons room.

 I had this sitting in the garage awaiting my attention:

Here's what it looked like when I got it. (Sorry, I took these photos after the stripper had been applied)

The gloppy drip was there before I started. Some people should be forbidden to apply stain to wood. 

I hate stripping furniture worse than root canals. Seriously. 

This fun activity took about, oh, 4-5 hours. The mirror took most of that time. Horrendous. 

I used my soy gel stripper. I raved about it on my "Frenchy Dresser" post. If you strip, then you 

must get some of this. It's totally non-toxic (I don't even wear gloves) and cleans up easily with water.

And it works like nobody's business!! Trust me, you will never use anything else again. 

 

This piece was pretty darn messed up. The finish was hideous, the original handles and keyhole plates were MIA, the drawers barely slid open and the bottoms were almost rotted away. 

What sold me on the piece was the mirror. It was some gorgeous wood-work. And the beveled glass was beautiful. I knew I could work my magic on this piece. 

And apparently, so did Tori.  She saw it sitting there and asked if I could make it look "Beachy". 

She wanted it blue with some white and yellow and distressed. 

Cool.  I hadn't done anything like that before so I told her I'm in! 

But first, a little help from Hubs,,,,,and Judy. How cute is this dog?? Mean Pit Bull??? Don't believe

it. She loves everyone. This is the best dog I have ever owned. 

After he fixed all the necessary structural issues, I got busy.  

I didn't have time to stage this gal in a vignette,,,so the garage photos will have to suffice. 

Please don't shake your head at my crap filled garage,,,,it is my work shop! 

She wanted white worked into the wood.  I used ASCP Pure White on top, the mirror accents and on the body.

Forgive the quality. The light wasn't great and the garage floor gives off a blue tint in the photos.

 The blue is my homemade chalk paint. I used MS "Mariner".

 These top two drawers were not in the best of shape, so I lined them with fabric.  All the sides of the drawers got painted.  I think it just finishes the piece. Sometime you have to pay extra attention to the details.

In the interim of working on this dresser, I started on some subway art. 

Yeah, yeah,,,I'm only a year too late.  WELL, i didn't get the memo!
And it appears as if I'm the only one without a cricut or some other machine to make the lettering.
Hey! I'm old, and I do it old school!  

I had some fence lumber sitting around, so Hub cut it and attached them from behind. After a quick sanding, I mixed up 4 different colors and painted them on my "canvas". 

Got my 2" and 3" letter stencils, and printed out the names of local Southern Calif beaches. 

I just eyeballed everything. I traced out the stencil in pencil and them went back over them 

by hand, painting each letter, using my homemade gray chalk paint. 

Hey, I'm in fron the camera for a change! 

And here's what I ended up with:

 I love how this came out! I was so surprised! 

It did take many hours between penciling the words and then 

going back and painting them. 

 I'm aware of the vinyl reverse stencil method, but I didn't have the materials. 

And I didn't want to wait. When I get an idea in my head, I just do it. 

So, I had this sitting in the garage when Tori came by this afternoon to pick up her dresser.
She and her friend commented on how cute it was. My husband blurted out, "It's for sale!" LOL
She asked how much, I told her, and she said, "I'll take that too!"  She ended up with four of my items!
                                                             It was a very good day!

I will definitely be making more of these puppies!

My first Milk Paint! GO BOLD, or go home!

So excited to show this dresser. (For you color haters, I'm afraid you will gasp in absolute shock!)

This was my first time using milk paint. I have been coveting the color of a dresser that I saw months ago from Stiltskin Studios. It's the cobalt color antique dresser off to the right side of their page.  

Anyhoo......When the UPS man showed up, it was like Christmas!! I'm sure he thinks I'm an

absolute lunatic. I do a happy dance every time he brings me packages.  Whatever. 

I got all these goodies from the Real Milk Paint Co.  This is my first time using

any milk paint product, but after seeing how this came out, it's not my last! 

The wreck below was just that. A wreck. Showed every bit of it's 90+years.

Hubs shored her up from the back. 

Now those of you that have seen my other stuff, know I usually preserve the wood tops. Not happening on this baby. Why people insist on carving into their furniture or leaving it outside to get wet and warped is beyond me....I sanded quite a bit and put a fresh coat of stain on the top and drawers.  This was before I thought about what color I was going to do.  Enter Milk Paint!  This paint loves bare wood and this baby was stripped to bare bones.  Perfectamundo!
                                                     

Ready?? Put on some sunglasses.......

HOLEY MOLEY BATMAN!

PHOTO ALERT......Grab a snack and a cup 'o joe,,,lots o' pictures ahead.

Guh-head....I'll wait. 

                         

                                    Cobalt Blue is my all time fave color. 
                                                   
 I have it throughout my yard......

This is one of our three koi ponds. The outside of our house is a Mediterranean/Spanish style and this pond is in the front patio/courtyard .  I had the wall stuccoed and then painted it this vibrant cobalt. The rest of the house is a rich gold with hints of terra-cotta. I know a lot of people just cringe at these colors. But hey, I love bold!  My yard is filled with flowers and plants with vibrant foliage.  I'm just coordinating with nature!

This is the side patio with the smaller pond for the smaller koi. 

Saltillo tile inlaid with hand painted Mexican Talavera tile....in cobalt and marigold of course!

Cobalt color
glass mosaic
 tile line the
 back drop
  for the
  waterfall.




To the right
is the largest
of the ponds.
There is a
sprinkling
of cobalt
in the pots and flowers around the pond.

  Just a pic of one of one of my favorite guys.  No, he isn't cobalt. I like him anyway. 

        Back to my dresser......

Painting with milk paint is almost identical to chalk paint.  I'm used to mixing my homemade chalky paint, so mixing this was no biggie. Simple directions. The rep at the company told me it will keep in the refrigerator for a few weeks. It will thicken, so just add some water before using.  Good to know!

I kept all the original hardware. Shined and polished and some parts were sprayed a bit. 

After sanding I wipe the whole thing down with naphtha. (I have to buy it in the neighboring state..Calif is sooooo air conscience)

"Judy" was kind enough to model the before and after drawers.

So. This is the second coat.  The first coat was, um, scary. The wood just soaked it up. I had an "oh-oh" moment. Until I read that is normal. The 2nd coat goes on like a thick latex paint and you can actually see the color. It dries just like chalk paint.

Here is the top after one coat of paint and sanding. 

 This is during the 2nd coat.  Just so you know, Milk Paint will not "fill in" any cracks or divots, you must apply wood filler to those prior to painting.

This paint dries super fast. You can seriously knock the whole thing out from start to sealing in a few hours. Instead of sealing with wax, the manufacturer recommends natural tung oil (or their burnishing paste). It's completely non-toxic, same as the milk paint.
Tung oil is very thick so I thinned it with their citrus solvent (also non-toxic) to make it spreadable. You can use mineral spirits if you want, but that will remain toxic until the spirits evaporate.  It's the same with the paste wax. The solvents are added to make the wax pliable. After the solvents evaporate, you are left with your hardened wax. 

After applying the oil, the color deepens. They recommend 3-4 coats of oil. This was one. 

The oil goes on very easily. You put on a thick layer, let it soak in for about 30 mins, and wipe off.
Depending on how porous the wood is, will determine how many coats of oil. It's a lot easier than waxing. However, you can still apply a coat of wax over the oil finish if you desire a more polished appearance.  If you look at their website, they give you how-to's on their products.   

The tung oil is great for many things. It revives any type of wood. The tung oil they sell at Real Milk Paint company, is 100% pure oil.  I know you have all seen the tung oil, Danish oil, etc, at HD or Lowes,,,read the label,,,it says tung oil finish, Danish Oil Finish.....very little if any natural tung oil or Danish oil. That stuff is filled with solvents and other nasty smelling stuff.  Don't ever use that finish stuff inside of drawers. The smell will transfer onto clothing or whatever you are keeping inside.   

This was not the mirror that came with the dresser.  I had this from a previous piece and the owner 

did not want it. 

I played around with the other two colors I ordered. I painted them on first and then layered over 

both with the ultramarine. When I sanded, I got peeks of the turquoise and cobalt (they call it 

cobalt but it looks like aqua).  These pics really don't do it justice. The layering effects are 

gorgeous!

I will be lining the drawers with this fabric.

I wanted to get a few pics without the mirror. 

Doesn't it go great with the Mexican patio I have?? And my mosaic pot I made years ago??

If you are wondering if this color has been photoshopped,,,the answer is no.  This is really
what it looks like. Definitely not for the faint of heart! 

Adios Muchachos!  

Thanks for visiting. 

linking to all my faves below

FunkyJunkInteriors