Makeover Monday: Turks & Caicos Dresser

Today I’m showing you a dresser makeover which has layers of turquoise and blue, which reminded me of pics I’ve seen of Turks & Caicos… you will soon see why!

I’ve had this dresser since…. September of last year I think? Maybe August. The veneer was peeling on the drawer fronts and the drawers needed repair to the glides. I knew this was going to be a beastly repair job so I put it off… and off…. and off. Until about a month ago, on a sunny Saturday, I caught a vision for what I wanted to do and started repairing it. It took me a few days but I finally was able to remove ALL the veneer on the lower two drawers and this little trim pieces in the middle, leaving just the carved-in parts.

 

I sanded the drawers smooth, filled in chunks that had chipped off, with wood filler and started painting. I’ve been really digging subtly layered pieces lately, so I did a custom mix (not sure of ratios) of Greek Blue and Provence. The color was the shade of the sky on a perfectly sunny day at the beach.

The second coat was a thin coat of Provence, which is the loveliest shade of turquoise waters. I then finished it with dark wax, which settled in all the grooves and crevices.

 Distressing the drawers was rather difficult, since it was raw wood and Chalk Paint soaks into raw wood like nothing else. It does not want to come off for anything. But I managed to distress the edges down to the wood and on the flat surfaces I distressed in areas of heavier use, lightly so the blue undercoat would show through.

Both the drop pulls and the mercury-ish-glass pulls I got at Hobby Lobby.

Staging this was fun… I used leftover flowers from my daughter’s birthday dinner, and hung some gold vintage-style bells that normally reside on my bookcase.

 

Call me crazy, but I totally screwed holes in my ceiling JUST for these shots. I don’t mind patching and touch up, but I take my staging seriously. 😉

This dresser, which reminds me of the beautiful water and skies in Turks & Caicos, will be available for sale at Vintage Market Days in a few weeks!