WeekendBase

Here is the before and after story of an old kitchen dresser. Once upon a time it was made on order for my friends who paid for it with their wedding money. Its main purpose was to make some storage space in a fairly small apartment. A couple of years later, me and my husband found ourselves with a shortage of space after receiving many useful and beautiful wedding gifts. My friend offered her dresser as a temporary solution to our problem. They were no longer using the dresser but were reluctant to sell as it was a wedding gift. Not only was I loaned a beautiful dresser, I was allowed to paint it and give it a little face lift. And so I proceeded immediately and in three days time the dresser started a new life in a new house with another couple of newlyweds. They say, that nothing can ever happen twice…
After just enough sanding to freshen up the surface, I gave it a coat of a water based undercoat by Zinsser.  It was odour free, quick drying and it covered what I wanted to be covered, at the same time leaving some lovely dents and gaps looking natural and untouched. And above of all, it was perfect undercoat for the eggshell paint that I decided to use.
My first choice of colour was Laura Ashley – Ivory, but I found it a little bit too bright for an old furniture and a little bit too cold. I made another trip to the Decor Centre and I picked Farrow & Ball- Off White.
At the beginning it seemed to me a little darker than I was aiming to, but with the hours passing by, I started to like it. My husband said that it looks very warm and that the colour is perfect for the old furniture. Anything brighter/whiter would be too modern looking. That comment satisfied me enough, so I proceeded with the painting of little elements…like nails for example. Overall I gave it two coats of the Off White, sanding lightly in between. I used glossy roller for the big surfaces and foam brush for the corners.
With the respect to the history of the furniture I decided to leave the worktop unpainted. I used the natural beeswax to polish it instead. It gained totally surprising excellent shine, fresh look and here is the final effect…

I love it and so is my friend which was a huge relief, considering the big changes that the dresser went through. I added glass knobs to make the dresser fit better into rather modern decor of the house. I chose Glass Hearts by Laura Ashley, to emphasis on the wedding relation and to literally give it some more L-O-V-E.
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