Revisting a Favorite

Time sure does fly. I have been thinking of a new post for a couple of weeks. EEEKK! I didn't realize that I hadn't posted anything since July!! Geesh!

We have been really busy with a lot of reloving our new home. Honestly, I LOVE decorating. I think I should have gone into interior design instead of visual communication. It just melts my butter to see anything that's outdated, delapidated (like the word delapidated) or trashed, bring it back to life and give it another chance. I had been finding that creative outlet in furniture until we bought a fixer upper and relocated to another state. (Lots of posts on that later.)

I've been noticing that white is still very popular in furniture color. I think it's here to stay for a while. It's bright, clean-looking and a neutral. I saw this piece and fell in love with the carving on the front. It was missing a drawer and one handle, but other than that it was in great shape. Well, what we relovers consider great! A missing drawer only allows us to be more creative, right?

I got so excited about it I forgot the before picture. I hate it when I do that. I'm getting better at it.

The dresser was a medium, nondescript brown wood.We decided it needed to be white. So, we primed and painted a bright white. But the entire thing didn't want to be white. My daughter and I brainstormed. We had just finished using General Finishes Java Gel Stain on another piece and LOVED the end result. It's so different from any other stain. Wipe it on, let it dry.  No sanding!! It darkened the top without hiding all the beautiful grain and it was gorgeous against the white.

This IS an oil based product, so be sure to wear gloves and be careful about spills accidentally hitting anything with your wiping cloth. You can buy it here - 

 http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/826978/General-Finishes-Java-Gel-Stain-Pint.aspx

Where the drawer was missing, we added a piece of 1/2" plywood, some trim around the sides of the wood and across the front edge of the plywood. It was primed and painted the same bright white.

But it still was lacking something. The top needed a little bit of zazzing up. My daughter had the idea of adding some silver to the top. With a damask stencil, she applied several patterns with silver paint. When that was dry, she used a small brush and added leaf sizing just in spots. She wanted the silver leaf to look aged and spotty, instead of solid. And the final result of the top?

If you look closely, you can see the brighter spots in the silver pattern. Those are the aged silver leaf areas. The entire top was given two coats of clear sating polyurethane.

To match the silver leaf design, we found some bright silver baskets at our local Home Goods. (I LOVE Home Goods. Maybe because it feeds my interior decorating addiction. 

It has just the right amount of feminine mixed with masculine, and just the right amount of zazz!

This gorgeous beauty found a new home within 3 hours! 

Neutrals will never go out of style!

Stay tuned! There's so much more furniture and maybe more home reloving updates like this one -  http://bit.ly/1o9uQyl

Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon!