I turned this elegant mid century dresser into a chic and modern TV console.
Look at these wonderful carved wood handles extending the full length of each of the 9 drawers.
George picked this up from a nice lady quite some time ago
but I refused to work on it till he recently egged me on again.
The drawers are beautifully built with solid wood front to back, top to bottom.
I wish I could find this level of quality in every piece I work on.
The entire inside frame structure is constructed with solid hard wood.
Now to the reason I refused to work on this piece.
The 6ft long top surface *interior* is ... (listen carefully for the scarey music)
MDF - medium density fiberboard
This invention of the 1960s is formed by gluing together wood fibers under high heat and pressure.
Unfortunelty this dresser dates to 1972, thus becoming an early victim of this new invention.
However this piece also has a thick solid wood veneer covering the MDF,
making it possible for me to completely strip, sand, and refinish the top.
Those familiar with my work know my clear feelings regarding MDF products but many DIYers
are finding ways to refinish it and repurpose pieces constructed of it.
Like these MDF cupboards given a faux paint finish at KFD Designs
How about this wall art using MDF from All Things Thrifty
MDF hardboard was used to transform this guest bedroom at Miss Mustard Seed
So George made one last attempt to convince me to give it a shot and offer a MDF revamp.
Im pleased, well very pleased with the end result but I dont feel my opinion on MDF is going to change any time soon. If this MDF hadnt been wrapped up in so much beautiful craftsmanship
it would have never got my attention.
I opted to industrialize it and give it the low profile needed for a sleek TV console
with vintage metal casters I picked up from my favorite antique dealer.
"Now thats stunning"
is what George said as he walked around the corner not expecting to see it finished for the first time.
He actually keeps saying it every time he passes by.
Often, I will have an idea of a paint technique or design I want to try on a piece of furniture, before I even have a piece of furniture to paint. That is how it started with this last project. I had purchased a dresser that I thought would fit perfectly an idea I had been carrying around in my head. However, when I got it home and looked at it closer, I really didnt like how the moldings on the drawers were going to break up the very graphic image I wanted to put on it. I walked around for days, taking quick peeks at the piece and trying to quickly give myself a mental snapshot of the image on it. Does that make sense to anyone? Well, I just wasnt liking my imaginary snapshot in my head so, ugh, I decided to bag that idea for later.Now, I knew I wanted to do a hand painted element on this piece, because I was just in the mood for some decorative painting. My design background is in murals and I really find hand painting enjoyable. So, I had to think of something else. So where does a girl go to find painted furniture design inspiration...The Graphics Fairy!The Graphics Fairy is my go to place for inspiration and let me warn you, like visiting Pinterest, you will get off task. You may head there to look for designs for a furniture piece, but before you know it you will find yourself perusing tutorials on how to transfer beautiful french images onto tea cloths!Although I am "groupie" for french typography, I wanted to find some sort of flourish pattern to pick up the curves on the legs and bottom of this dresser. I decided to do a spencerian flourish with a bird. I also decided to do the piece all in cream and white shades. Heres how it all went down.Below is the dresser basecoated in American Paint Companys Chalk Paint in the color Rushmore, a beautiful earthy stone off white.
After selecting my graphic from the Graphic Fairy, I decided to transfer my image to my dresser using an overhead projector. If you do not have an overhead projector, another great technique I use for transferring large images is using blockposters.com to enlarge pictures. You can find a tutorial on that at the at the Graphics Fairy here.
tip..I didnt have transparency paper on hand and office depot is over 20 miles from my house, so in a pinch, I print out on a clear sheet protector we had laying around from my kids. Of course it will smear when you touch, but since you only have to use it one, be careful and dont touch it!
To trace my images, I used a watercolor pencil. Find them in the artist section of Michaels or your favorite craft store. Choose a color closest to the color you will be painting with, so I used a white pencil. After painting and when dry, you can just wipe away stray marks with a damp cloth. After you sketch the image up. Gather your painting supplies for the detail work:acrylic paint (you could use latex or whatever else you are comfortable with but for detail work I usually choose acrylics), water to dampen brush and clean, paper towel to dab brush,paper plate for paint, wet cloth to fix any mistakes, and brushesHere is how I usually set up my plate to paint. I poured out some white which was my main color, some Vandyke Brown tint I had on hand to add with white for lowlights (or you could use a raw uber or darker brown acrylic) and my brushes.Because this was more detailed work I used an assortment of smaller sized straight brushes, round and liner brushes and a filbert brush.
I painted the whole mural in white first. To make my brush flow smoothly for long flourishes, I dip my brush in water first and then mix with the paint to make a creamier mix. Sometimes I even wipe the surface with a damp rag so my brush wont drag while moving it, but in this case, I did not want to wipe off my water color pencil!
To create a little dimension, I added the darker accent color sort of as a shadow. Adding it to the inside of swirls and underneath selected brush strokes. Again, mix water with this color to get good flow.
After the mural was painted and had dried. I went over the whole piece with a 220 sanding block to distress. Paying closest attention to decorative details, corners and edges which is where a piece would naturally age first.
I finished the piece with a top coat of American Paint Companys clear wax followed by Miss Mustard Seeds White Wax to give it an overall white wash. (I will be posting a separate tutorial for waxing this piece soon).
Find beauty in your day!
Debbie Linking to These Fabulous Blogs: Miss Mustard Seed The Graphics Fairy
