As in past years, I am just terrible at blogging in winter – see here and here.   In previous years, I think I just didn’t even work on projects.  I can’t say that this year, as I have worked on many projects, with the majority of them being either for clients or for selling my booth at Thrifty Elegance.  But, even with working on projects, I haven’t done the best at taking pictures to document the projects.  It is just more challenging to get photos as I am doing more of the work in the basement in my little storage area turned workroom.  I will share some projects soon, even if they are just before and after pictures for some inspiration.  But, for now, I do have a project that was for our house to share.  I have been gradually working on transforming our Guest Room.

I already bought new nightstands and gave them a new look.

Now, it was time to tackle the dresser.  This was the old dresser….it had moved with us from Bob’s old house.

We had the whole set, this dresser, a chest of drawers and the nightstands, so we sold the whole set on Craigslist.  The guest room had been without the dresser for a while when I worked on the new one.  Sadly, I had this new dresser in our garage for over a year before I worked on it.

It was a $60 Craigslist purchase that was exactly what I envisioned.  I didn’t want a huge dresser for the guest room, and I wanted one with curves and legs and this was just the dresser.  Plus, it was nice and solid wood.   Even though it had already been painted, I wanted a stained top.  I don’t know why I get these crazy ideas.  I really don’t enjoy stripping, sanding and staining!!  I’m sure that is part of why it took me over a year to get started on it.  But, nonetheless, I started with stripping it.

I like to use Citristrip.  It’s not smelly, which is nice. I set up shop in the garage for this part of the project.  I applied the Citristrip and let it do its magic.

I think I may have applied it and then checked on it a few hours (if not the following day) later.  The paint just bubbles up.

I use a plastic putty knife and scrape it off.  Then, the sanding starts.  I failed terribly at taking pictures of this step.  I know it was probably because I had to get Bob to help me move the dresser from the garage to the yard to sand, put it in the shed overnight, pull it back out the next day and sand some more.  Once the sanding was done, we moved it into the guest room for the last steps.  I just laid out drop cloths to protect the floor.

I was so happy with how pretty the natural wood was after all that hard work.  As I said, I’m not a huge fan of staining either….its time consuming and requires patience, and I don’t have an abundance of time or patience. 🙂   So, I used the Minwax finishing cloths.  I had only used them making Christmas ornaments, so this was my first true test of them on a larger project.  I taped off the base of the dresser using Frog Tape so that I didn’t get any stain on the body of the dresser since I planned to paint it.

It really couldn’t have been easier.  I wiped them on using gloves and that was it.  I think I did 2 coats, a few days apart, just to get a consistent color.

Now, it was time for what I consider the fun part….painting.  I removed the tape, took off the hardware and took the drawers out of the dresser, and taped the dresser top so I didn’t get any paint on my new stain.  I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint for the dresser, first coat in Paris Grey.

For the second and third coats, I used Pure White.  Then, it was time for distressing, so the dresser got moved outside so I didn’t make a sandy mess inside.  I should’ve counted how many times and in how many locations this dresser was moved to!

I also painted the hardware, but it seems I took a before picture and nothing else.  I used Rustoleum’s Metallic spray paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze.

After distressing, the dresser got moved back inside for a coat of clear wax and the hardware was reattached.

I really love how it turned out.

The distressing brought out the details of the curves and the hints of grey underneath all the white.  It’s been done for weeks, if not a month or so at this point and I’ve still not styled anything on it.  I need a new mirror for above the dresser and probably a lamp too.  I’ve waited so long to redo this room, that I’m not rushing out to just buy items, I want to get it right.

Next up will be a new headboard for the bed and then the final accessories and I’ll have the room done!

How has your winter been?  Do you enjoy it, or can’t wait for it to be over like me?