Grey Linen Cottage Dresser

I was minding my own business yesterday,

headed back to the store with my lunch

(on foot)

when I wandered into an antique shop along the way

Tarpon Ave is LOADED with antique shops

and this one in particular has been having a

GOING OUT OF BUSINESS

sale for about a year 

There, amid all the glassware and smalls,

sat this cutie

Since it was only a few blocks from shop to shop 

(theirs to ours)

I grabbed our dolly and hoped for the best!

Happily, the dresser and I both made it back to our store in one piece!

(the old brick roads and narrow sidewalks are not dresser friendly!)

I hoped to preserve the wood top, but there was veneer damage and some deep stains

so I accepted the fact that it needed paint and got busy,

saving the top for last

(hoping for some sort of inspiration!)

The body is painted in Amy Howard Home's One Step Paint

in Luxe Grey (LOVE) and the details, as well as the two large drawers

are painted in Bauhaus Buff (also AHH)

There seems to be a misconception that One Step paint can't be distressed,

which clearly is NOT the case, as this piece has moderate distressing along the edges

One Step Paint doesn't unintentionally distress

(you know, like when you're buffing and the paint comes off the raised areas 

even though you didn't want it to?)

so you'll have to apply gentle pressure with a medium grit sanding block for this effect

(haven't tried other methods yet, will update as we do)

Instead of wax, I chose to finish this piece off with a glaze

Once dry, I gently sanded the surface for a weathered look

As I was sanding some paint off the lip of the top, I started LOVING

the look of the wood, just that frame around the top

so I taped it off before I painted the top of the dresser

then glazed the whole thing to add richness to the wood without making it look too "new"

(don't you think it looks sort of weird when the body is distressed and the top is all shiny and perfect?)

 (as you can see, the new drawer stops were added AFTER I took pics...OOPS!)

The hardware sort of disappeared against the wood, 

but now, it's showcased so beautifully

The mirror is also original, and has all the patina you'd hope for in a piece of it's age

I highlighted the layers surrounding the mirror for a bit of added detail

I'm head over heels in love with this dresser...it's a perfect fit for my home

if only it actually FIT somewhere in my home...isn't that always the trouble?

Alas, you can find this piece in our Etsy Shop

Hollywood Regency Glamour

We have had this dresser set listed as a custom for a few weeks...

it was living dangerously!

Since we are head over heels in LOVE with One Step Paint in Black,

we jumped right in with these pieces

Here is the before

(this before makes it look WAY better than reality!)

While cleaning this dresser and removing the drawers,

we discovered it was made in Sweden...a first for us!

The entire body was covered in Black One Step Paint

with only the center panels contrasting in white

 (mirror obviously isn't shown...it's black and it's gorgeous!)

The hardware features silver leaf with a touch of black

Behind the door, three lingerie drawers are clean and simple

(the areas that look mottled are really shiny from the wax...hard to capture on camera)

On top, we wanted a "little something"

that would add to the graphic impact

without being too fussy

This Cherry Blossom stencil from Royal Design Studio is PERFECT

The nightstand we opted to keep very simple and classic

We're really pleased with how this set turned out...

Simple and classic, yet it has great impact

If you haven't tried One Step Paint from Amy Howard Home yet,

what are you waiting for?  

Go for it! 

Kenny and Michele

Gilded, Grey, and Gorgeous!

It's no secret we're big fans of grey, cream, and gold...

I mean, can you blame us?

We used One Step Paint from Amy Howard at Home

to achieve this gorgeousness

Of course, this beauty started out pretty good!

Not bad, right?

Great "bones", wonderful details...horrible color!

We took this tallboy on a trip to France

 The original hardware was stunning, even more so with some gold leaf 

 Creamy Bauhaus Buff brings out the inset panels, trimmed in more gold leaf

 That perfect Grey?  Atelier. We love it, too. 

This piece was a custom order for a lucky local client...

we hope he adores it as much as we do!

Smokin' Hot Copper

Sometimes, we pick up a piece (or pieces!)

that are SO stunning already,

it's a challenge to dream up something even more fabulous

It's like we have a RESPONSIBILITY to the pieces, you know?

This bedroom suite is a great example...

pretty fabulous, right?

 All that lovely detail?  It's raised (carved OUT of the wood, not in to it!)...AMAZING!

The shape?  

Bombe and GORGEOUS

Even the hardware is special!

 Solid wood, circa 1972

by Dixon Powdermaker

(Florida company!)

I struggled a bit...nothing was really coming to me, inspiration-wise

I actually started painting the pieces a sea blue/green

when I thought "really?  That's the best you got?"

So I stopped. And thought. And thought.

then, I recalled an AMAZING table I saw

all curves, copper, and silver...

I LOVED that table!

 ~I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do~

I tackled the nightstands first, as they had so much lovely detail work

Smokey grey metallic paint makes the curves on this set really shimmer

Highlighting the details, gorgeous silver leaf

Copper brings some warmth while still being so glam

Even the hardware is spectacular on this set!

What an amazing find this was...I hope we've done it justice!

You can find this in our Etsy Shop

Cartouche Green

When put to task

choosing ONE color

from the 

Amy Howard at Home 

One Step Paint collection,

we were stumped...

How to choose?

They are ALL gorgeous! 

We use a lot of greys,

but we wanted something different

Vintage Affliction caught our eye, 

as did Chinese Red

but we both really, REALLY

loved Cartouche Green

(plus, it's the same color as our logo!)

When I was in elementary school,

all things Egyptian were very popular

Our home had gold leafed Pharaoh heads,

papyrus art, and who knows what else...

but the item I coveted most?

A cartouche necklace

Sadly, I never got one...

but now I have Cartouche Green instead!

(and Pharoah's gold on the hardware in homage to the namesake...)

If you are not already familiar with Amy Howard's product line,

go look...like, now...we'll wait

Amazing products, right?

Let me tell you a bit about our experience with the One Step Paint

It went on a bit thicker than it did the other day,

probably because the surface I was applying to was different

Two coats provided beautiful coverage

We opted to seal the surface with Amy's light wax

See that gorgeous sheen?

That's from buffing with a cloth, for about three seconds

Not exaggerating! 

Waxing and buffing this ENTIRE dresser took us less than 15 minutes

(and our arms were NOT limp spaghetti after!)

The light wax resembles pudding

and frankly, the color is a bit alarming in the jar

(fine, I'll say it. It reminded me of baby poop)

but FEAR NOT!!

it added the slightest bit of warmth to the color,

making it a tad deeper and more rich

without completely changing the color

Here's where we entered foreign territory...

using dark wax SPARINGLY and very lightly

Usually, I really love the look of dark wax settling into the brushstrokes

but in this instance, I wanted the color to remain true

and the piece to look fresh

We also used Dust of Ages over the dark wax...

on this color, it didn't make a tremendous difference,

but we'll definitely try it again with other colors

One of our biggest "peeves" if you will about most chalk-type paints

is that when buffing the wax or burnishing the surface, 

the high relief areas always distress slightly

If we were after that look,  great!

 Sometimes, however,  we don't want any distressing,

so it's annoying when the raised edges on the drawer faces 

or the sharper points on the lip wear away

with very little pressure

We're not alone here, right?  

Please tell me this happens to you, too!

Guess what?  Didn't happen with this product

Not a single speck of paint budged

Clearly, we did not distress this piece,

so we'll have to let you know how it distresses

in the future

(cause we are FOR SURE 

using this product again..

and again..

and again...)

It takes a lot to impress us...

we pretty much have "our" products we trust and love

so paint and/or wax has to be pretty great to hold our attention

This paint and wax?

Yeah, it's pretty great!