Mademoiselle Dresser

We've scored a slew of French Provincial dressers lately...

seems like it's feast or famine, and they typically sell so quickly...

we snatch them up whenever we see a great one

We're incredibly particular with our pieces...

they must be solid wood, preferably circa 1960 or earlier

with stand-out details that make them special

This dresser certainly met the criteria!

So heavy...solid wood cut nice and thick!

It's made by Dixie, circa 1950's...

before Dixie started using 

laminate and particle board

Check out the details...

Kenny spent lots of time

making sure each and every drawer

(there are NINE!)

looked like new...

We've been having a bit of a love affair with brighter, richer colors lately....

but for this piece, we went back to our "roots" so-to-speak

my first loves, Paris Grey and Old White

From Annie Sloan, of course!

Love this dresser?

It's for sale in our Etsy Shop

Gustavian Collection Pantry Hutch

 We've been drawn to Swedish and Country French antiques lately...

the neutrals that are soothing and beautiful

the weathered, aged paint...

yeah, it's pretty much all good! 

The paint on this piece was inspired by the antiques that 

we'd love to have in our own home

This piece took much longer than I anticipated...

funny how that goes, isn't it?

We opted for Pure White

from Annie Sloan

which contains no pigment

(cause, you know, it's WHITE...)

which meant three coats

Then, we clear waxed the whole thing

before using two different colored waxes

for an old-world look

After waxing and distressing the entire piece,

we decided to stencil a gorgeous French poem

on the back-board...

I wanted white words on Paris Grey

I used a stencil cream I purchased at the craft store...

and it seemed to work great...

UNTIL....

I applied clear wax!

Bye Bye white stenciled poem!

Moral of the story?

Only use stencil creme from Royal Design Studio!

(which is also where the stencil came from)

Did I mention I also painted the words upside-down?

It normally would not have mattered, 

however, 

this board is attached not only on the perimeter,

but also along each shelf

so the holes from the nails didn't line up

AT ALL

SOOOO....

We clearly had to repaint!

We changed to French Linen

and used Bronze Age Stencil Creme

then applied a dark wax glaze

As you can see, it worked out wonderfully!

This is such an unusual piece...

we love the fact that it's not huge,

but still tall and offers lots of storage

not to mention visual impact!

This piece is available in our Etsy Shop

Scarlet Begonias

This dresser is solid wood,

made by Ethan Allen

but not quite as curvy

as we usually like...

it said

"Country French" 

in our minds

(it also said "1980's Golden Pine")

We opted to just "go with it"

and make it not-so-fancy

 It's got such lovely carved details...

they're chunky, though, not delicate

 We decided Milk Paint was the perfect choice

but we wanted a bold color...

we used Real Milk Paint products

(white and bright red)
We knew we wanted to dark wax this piece
so we mixed up a slightly lighter
shade of pink
(try to keep in mind how your finishing products will
 affect your color when painting your own pieces)

 Three coats gave the depth we wanted

followed by lots of distressing...

 We stripped the top and refinished it to match the drawers

(it was in terrible condition!)

 and these tri-fold mirrors...

so loving them lately!

They make an already fabulous dresser so grand!

We finished this project with Myland's Wax in Clear

and Annie Sloan Wax in dark

It's totally BoHo Chic, don't you think?

you can find this item for sale in our Etsy shop