Painted Dresser - latest Annie Sloan paint project!

Latest Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Project

 

before

A year or so ago I bought an oak dresser on eBay with the intention of painting it. Solid oak, heavy and good quality, but looking rather dated, and too dark for my kitchen.

Since then it's been sitting in my kitchen, making the kitchen dark and gloomy, patiently waiting to be transformed.

Whilst in the middle of a large job painting a friend's old pine bedroom furniture (bedstead, wardrobe, dressing table and bedside table ) with Annie Sloan Chalk Paints bought from Dovetails Vintage in Sevenoaks, Kent ( I love this shop! They offer a quick mail order service too if you don't have an AS stockist near you) and being pretty pleased with how quickly and easily it was all going, I decided that the oak dresser's moment of transformation had finally come.

So in one weekend it went from the above, to this below........


 

and after....

I painted the outside in Annie Sloan Old Ochre,  a warm cream, and the inside of the display cabinet I painted in AS Antoinette, a gorgeous pale pink.


 

 

As the cabinet was dark it needed two coats.

But if you've used Annie Sloan Chalk Paints before, then you know that part of the beauty of the paint is the lack of preparation needed before painting - just a quick wash/wipe over then once it's dry you can start painting.

So despite needing a second coat, it wasn't as daunting a project as I'd imagined, and as the paint dries fairly quickly it meant it was still a fairly quick job - it would have been more of a job had it all needed sanding first!

So first I painted the dresser top and it went from this..........to this!

 

Then the base........I didn't even unpack the china to do the base - just removed the knobs, moved it out from the wall, slipped some newspaper under it and got painting.

It was amazing how suddenly the kitchen was made lighter.

 

Once the first coat was dry I painted a sketchy, fairly random second coat concentrating on where it was needed, and then once that was dry I waxed all over using Annie Sloan Clear Wax.

I then gently distressed the edges where it would naturally wear. I wanted to achieve a pale, barely distressed look, so I didn't go overboard on the sanding, and didn't use any AS Antique wax..

 

Before replacing the dresser top, I lightly sanded the top surface of the dresser base, wiped it over then gave it a second coat of wax. Once that dried I buffed it to a soft sheen, then put the dresser top in place (well actually it took three of us to heave the darn thing back up without damaging my new paint job!)

 

Since the above photo was taken, the dresser top has had the original patterned glass put back in temporarily until I can get some clear glass to replace it, and my kind husband has put in a new shelf (where the plate display rail is) to hold extra china.

I'm so glad I painted it at last, it's made such a huge difference to the look and feel of the kitchen, all for the price of two pots of paint (and there's still plenty left over for the next project........)!

Shortly after finishing painting the dresser I went up to London to the Spring Country Living Fair, and amongst other things treated the kitchen (!) to a gorgeous braided runner from The Braided Rug Company

I've been lusting after a braided rug from this company for years (and even made a couple myself a few years ago!) and this particular one is made from jute rather than the more traditional carpet type of rug the company started out selling. So it should wear well, and it lies beautifully flat.

 

 

I think Logan thought it was a new toy for him at first!

 

 

I love it, and it's perfect for covering some cracked tiles in the kitchen!

 

At the Fair I also found some pretty vintage fish knives and forks..........

 

 

and some pot holders and tea towels in pretty grey and white striped fabric with little roses from Sophie Allport.


 

Next "day out" will be the Decorative Living Fair at Eridge Park, near Tunbridge Wells in Kent, on Thursday 16th May - last year it was pouring with rain and pretty muddy there, and I'm hoping this year there'll be some sunshine by then!

Last year Dovetails, (where I buy Annie Sloan paints and where I did an AS painting course), had a stall there and hopefully they'll be there again this year, along with lots of wonderful vintage and decorative antiques stalls as well as gorgeous clothes, plants and gardenalia.

 

What with all the furniture painting I've been doing, I haven't had a chance to do much sewing recently, although I did make a few new floral linen cushions for the sitting room.

 

I have quite a few vintage finds to share in another post, but must just show you this cute vintage curtain that I found for £2 in a vintage shop.

I'd been vaguely looking out for something to put under the sink unit for a while now, and this was obviously meant to be as it fits just about perfectly - which is just as well as the curtain tape ends have been knotted so thoroughly that there's no way I can adjust it without taking off the tape and replacing it - and it'll be a while before I get around to that!

Thanks for all your comments on my last post, I hope you all had a good Easter, and a very warm welcome to my new followers!