MMS Feature & My Labor of Love

My red dresser was featured on Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday!!!!!

I still cannot believe she featured me. This is what she said:
"My most surprising favorite pick is by Helen of Picked & Painted. I would have never, ever thought I would like a dresser painted this color, but I think it is lovely. Good for you, Helen, for stepping out of the white/gray/black world. It really paid off".

Would it be weird to print it, frame it, and stare at it all day? Well, maybe not all day!

Okay, now on to my labor of love.

Last year I found this china cabinet at Goodwill and I had to have it. I was excited, it was a great price and I was up for a challenge. This piece was a challenge and next time I may turn and run, perhaps sprint, when I find a china cabinet for sale. This was a labor of love but oh, I do love it!

BEFORE

AFTER

Everything looks pretty up close.

The knobs gradually get bigger in size. 

I didn't want to go too crazy with the distressing so I tried to keep it minimal. 

I wanted to do a stencil on the inside of the hutch but I wasn't happy with the way it looked so I decided to keep it all one color.

I also painted the inside of the buffet. 

I used Swiss Coffee by Behr and the blue was an "oops" paint I had on hand. I used the paint can to prop up a picture frame that I was spray painting and well....I didn't really think that one through. The over-spray covered the paint label so I have no idea what color it is. I like to call it Peacock Blue. 

Linking up to:

Savvy Southern Style

Chifferobe - Before & After

My newest client contacted me and asked if I could paint a dresser for her. You might need your shades for the before...Whoa, that's bright!

 My client chose Homestead Resort Moss by Valspar for the color. 

At first, the color may not look that different but trust me it is....and it's OH-SO much better!

Don't you think??

The knobs are from Hobby Lobby and look great with the green.

Now you can see the pretty silver hinges...which were previously painted over (that's a NO-NO, in my book).

Mary was the best to work for!

Here's a side by side view.

Linking up to:

Miss Mustard Seed

How to Remove Chipped Veneer

I bought a dresser that had a few pieces of veneer missing. Since the areas were small I planned on using wood filler to hide the blemishes. WRONG!

see the missing veneer on the bottom?

After searching online for ways to remove veneer I  jumped head first into this project.  I work better that way.

Not only was there missing veneer there was also warped/bubbly veneer on the bottom drawer. Unfortunately, it wasn't noticeable until I painted.

These are the steps I followed:

What you need:

• a damp cloth
• a bowl with water
• an iron
• putty knife, chisel
• hammer
• eye protection, gloves

The secret to getting veneer to come off, without scraping your life away, is to get the glue (which holds veneer in place) hot enough so the veneer with pull away from the wood.

To do just that,  I put a damp cloth on the wood, and set the iron on top. At first, I moved the iron around and kept it moving. That method worked fine but I found leaving the iron in one spot (for about 15 to 20 seconds) worked even better.  I would recommend setting your iron between medium and high and adjust as needed.  

Every once in a while, I would dip my rag into the bowl of water and wring it out. If there isn't enough moisture you will have a hard time scrapping and this is when frustration sets in!

After I left the iron on the cloth for a while I was able to use my scrapper and remove the veneer. I started with a piece that was warped/bubbly and worked in random sections. If I had a hard time removing a particular piece I would move to another piece. Once I got all of the veneer off I sanded the drawer down until it was smooth.

Overall, it took about 2 hours to do the bottom drawer. The next day I worked on the bottom lip and that took about 45 minutes.

I thought the paint might melt a little under the iron but I didn't have any problems with that.

update as of 8/18/12
Each type of veneer is different. The one on the dresser above was easy to use with just a putty knife. I have worked on other dressers since I did this post and found using a hammer to hit the butt end of the putty knife (like a chisel) will help you with stubborn pieces. It also saves a little bit of time. Just be careful not to dig into the wood or leave any dents. Also feel free to use a larger putty knife...the one in the picture above is small because that is what I had on hand.

no more chippy veneer!!

***DISCLAIMER***

Do this at your own risk!

Remember, you are working with a hot iron and the rag becomes hot too. BE CAREFUL!!

The veneer is thin layers and can cause splinters (I learned from experience)

Use protective eye wear and gloves

If you're wanting to do this to great-great grandma's dresser, that has been in the family for 800 years, try this on another piece of furniture first. 

Have fun!!! 

Linking up to:

AKA Design

Red Dresser - Before and After

Okay, this was almost an "after" only blog post. Apparently, our computer got a little bug and ALL of my pictures are gone and I think I am in shock because I'm staying pretty calm. I'm going to my happy place.

The minute I saw this dresser I knew I wanted it! I love the legs and the casters.

There was some veneer missing so I filled it with wood filler. It looked great, until I painted and I could see every flaw. The bottom drawer had ripples in it, which I couldn't see until I painted it. In the end, I had to remove the veneer which I will do a how-to post on soon.

The color changes depending on the light.

The paint color is called Rose Dust, but I think it has hues of coral, and dark red. (It was actually an "opps" paint so this color may not true to the color swatch).

Gorgeous!!

The top was in good condition so I kept it natural and I lightly distressed the corners of the dresser and added two coats of wax. I also kept the original pulls.

I love this dresser! Do you agree?

Linking up to:

Miss Mustard Seed

Savvy Southern Style

Primp