January’s Fab Furniture Flippin Contest – A Fresh Start
On a trip with my DH to Door County we found this great little shop with several interesting pieces just screaming to be loved on. The prices were decent but we only had room in our van to take home two pieces. The first was a one piece china cabinet and the other a little dresser that had never been cared for – raw wood with dinky sad little knobs.
It reminded me of an apothecary cabinet.
I went back and forth trying to decide what color to choose – because I just had to paint it!
Since General Finishes sponsored the Fab Furniture Flippin Contest again this month and donated a quart of their new chalk style paint to finish the piece, all I had to do was decide on a color. Some may shudder at the thought of painting raw wood, but I can’t abide the knotty pine look – blech! Never have, never will.
From the time I took the dresser home, I envisioned it antique red. But I have no place to put it that red would be a good fit. So I went with bone white chalk style paint and planned to distress it completing the look with new knobs that we found at auction.
Reality turned out to be much more inviting than fantasy, for the bone color turned out to be an amazing addition to our walk-in master closet. Since the carpet is a raspberry color (already in the house when we bought it), and we have a mixture of wood finishes in the room, the bone white will be a perfect compliment.
The Fab Furniture Flippin’ Contest challenges DIY’ers to create a great piece of furniture following certain guidelines.
This time we were required to choose a piece of furniture that has seen better days and turn it into a show piece that will be used in our home. This piece had a long way to go, but I knew it could get there.
The winner gets a full case of General Finishes product in quarts or pints!
The theme is “A Fresh Start.”
The design of the dresser reminds one of an earlier time – maybe it housed tinctures in an old apothacary shop or stood as a lady’s lingerie chest full of scarves and dainties.
So let’s take a look at the flipping process…
Step 1
Make sure the wood is clean and ready for paint. I didn’t prime it because I wanted to experiment a bit. Normally you don’t need to prime for chalk paint, though many recommend doing to be safe. I wanted to give it a go and see how it received the paint with no prep. To be able to compare it to other brands, I needed to put it to the test. I did do a quick sanding to rid it of any oils that may have gotten on it over time since it was a used dresser.
Step 2
Paint it! I used a brush for the trim and a small craft foam roller to paint it.
The paint went on beautifully – it was smooth and it is obviously a very good quality paint.
I didn’t prime it and yet it didn’t budge when I tried to distress it with a sanding sponge. It was quite impressive. I could have used sand paper, but I decided not to distress it because the edges were all rounded, so the distressing just didn’t look right.
I’m not into the chippy look. I don’t like dents or scrapes. The surfaces were flat, so there were no nooks and crannies that would house antiquing well. So, it stayed as is and decided to do something different…
Step 3
I painted the sides of the drawers with coastal blue milk paint from General Finishes. The project went from boring to interesting with a stroke of a brush…well, several strokes.
I used a foam brush and foam craft roller. The paint is such a good quality! L.O.V.E.I.T.
Step 4
Wax it. I used Annie Sloan clear wax finish after I distressed it. To have this look using General Finishes, apply Satin Finishing Wax.
Step 5
Buff to the sheen you desire and add knobs.
Step 6
Stand back and admire your work!
This wasn’t my first rodeo. Visit my other contest entries:
Participants of The Fab Furniture Flippin’ Contest receive product compensation from the sponsoring brand, General Finishes, in order to complete their themed projects. General Finishes will also provide the prize package for the contest winner.
Thanks for stopping by!
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I love apothocary pieces, nice knob choice and the navy blue peekaboo is a wonderful added touch, great job!
Thanks!
The white is pretty, chrisp and clean. I also really like natural wood with the right stain color. Great project this turned out really nice.
Thanks, Carole. Most of my house is wood, few pieces are painted. We have too much, actually – kitchen cabinets, trim, bookcases, entertainment center etc. the painted pieces are helping de-woodify our house. VBG.
I love love love the two toned drawers. You did a wonderful job on your piece.
Thanks – I love two-toned too, especially browns and blues.
EEEEK! I have been scouring the world for a cabinet just like this! Superb makeover, I love love love it!
Oh my goodness, Val! I'm so jealous! I haven't been to Door County in years! Love the dresser you found-and painting the sides blue was a genious idea!!
Thanks, CD. It was our first trip to Door County but it won’t be our last!
This turned out beautiful Val! It's a goregeous piece that will come in so handy with all that storage! I love the darker paint on the drawer sides–that adds such a pretty touch!
Door County is one of my all-time favorite vacation spots! I was fortunate enough to travel there with my best friend several times when we were kids. In fact, she just texted me an old picture of the two of us on one of our famous Door County trips. It was a very long time ago so let's just say my hair was suffering from the style of the 80s. 🙂
Ha! It IS an amazing area – it was our first taste of DC. We will for sure go back and do more picking – but take a trailer next time!
Very refreshing and it POPS against your purple walls! Nicely done!
Well, actually the walls are a dark brown. LOL Thanks for visiting – I hope you come back often!
A beautiful transformation! Pinned and tweeted to share. Thank you for sharing your project with us at Brag About It!
Thanks!
This make-over turned out great! I love that it has a clean look. Thank you so much for linking up and sharing with us over at the Welcome Home Wednesdays Link Party.