One of my favorite parts to Upstyling furniture, is picking out knobs and pulls. Now sometimes, you get lucky and have a piece with beautiful vintage hardware and you dont have to do a thing. Here I only switched out the top two knobs. The pulls are original.
Pretty vintage pulls.
Other times, I will use the original knobs...but update them. Here, I just painted the pulls the same color as the dresser or at least added touches of the paint color to tie it all together.
Just a light coat of chalk paint to tone down the brass.
Knobs lightly painted for a tone on tone look.
But, sometimes you might have furniture with missing or dated knobs. So... in this post I want to round up some of my best advice for dressing up furniture with hardware. Best way to clean dirty hardware:To clean dirty hardware I like to soak in a bath of baking soda and vinegar and use a old toothbrush for scrubbing if necessary. To remove paint on knobs without chemicals check out Familyhandyman.com/doors/how-to-remove-paint-from-hardware My favorite shops for Hardware:Hobbylobby.com Great selection, a lot of original styles and all at a great place. Search the site under knobs or pulls. In store, it seems knobs are always 50% off and always check for coupons. Etsy.com Etsy is a great source for vintage hardware, beautiful glass knobs and painted knobs. Shop and favorite your most loved sites so you can return again. One of my favorite shops on Etsy for hardware is Etsy.com/shop/Firstfinds Anthropology.com Really beautiful knobs but a little pricey. I like to shop discounted knobs when I am in the store and usually I use Anthropology only for pieces requiring a few statement knobs Best tip of the day…..for Screws to that are too short:One day I was looking for help in Home Depot because my knob screws were too short for my drawers, I was introduced to this product. Maybe I was late to the party, but I had never seen these! Now, I always keep these on hand. These are easily snapped to adjust to your needed length. Click here to see my simple tutorial on cutting these to size.
A drawer with too many holes or holes that are too big:For too many holes or holess that are too big for your screws, you will want to back fill all the holes with a good non shrinking wood fill that holds screws. Look for products like this, that say something like "strong nail & screw anchoring."
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Hardware that requires visible screws and does not come with matching screws:Now I did say I liked Hobby Lobby, and I do, but over the summer I ordered these pulls. They are actually a great style and with a great price. However, when I got them, I realized that while they fit the 3 inch hole span in my dresser, they were not designed for regular knob screws. These required 3 small screws to attach them from the front of the drawer and they did not come with any screws! I eventually found these screws would fit but…
But, the holes were too big so I had to fill them in.
Then, I needed more holes too, so I had to mark and drill them.
Then, the screws did not match the hardware so I had to touch them up with metallic bronze paint to get them to match.
But, in the end, I had a dresser all "dressed up" with hardware.
The only other mahogany buffet that I redid sold within 3 days at the shop.
White with the natural wood top sells like hotcakes around here!
I came across this ad for a dresser for sale on CL and thought it would make a nice buffet.
Have a looksee......
Forgot to snap a before shot before I got stripping! My stripper of choice is "Soy Gel". I've raved about it in other posts. No smell and completely non-toxic! Works just as well as the chemical strippers. And clean up is with water. Doesn't get any easier than that. You can order it online at the Real Milk Paint co or many other sites.
I wasn't about to put back the drawers for the pic. But here's what the whole enchilada looked like......
I keep collecting pieces to do, and then pushing them aside and working on the newer stuff!! lol
I also wasn't about to move this beast inside to stage and then move it back out and load it onto the truck! I swear, this baby must weigh 200 lbs!
This one was off to my space at Debras Cottage in Costa Mesa.
The veneer was completely torn off this leg and badly peeling away on two the others. There were
Just yesterday, I finally finished this buffet/dresser and it is ready for Etsy!
Although I used Annie Sloan Duck Egg Blue paint, I added a little twist by doing some gold metallic underneath....for a little glam! After some heavier distressing, the real wood and the softer metallic comes through, giving it a nice little variation.
Follow the recipe below:)
Two Toned Glam Distressing
For this finish, I start with a primer and metallic base coat that is painted on sporadically, randomly or artsy fartsy...however you like to look at it.
You do not cover the piece completely because you also want the original finish to show through.
First, basecoat with a primer tinted to gold color.
I used Sherwin Williams ProBlock tinted to a manual color.
This step will help the metallic adhere better and it will make the color richer. (Metallics will often come out too sheer on darker colors, so a matching base helps a lot.)
Take your paint brush and cover about 70% of the piece with the primer.
Now cover all the areas with primer with the metallic. This doesnt have to be neat. I used Modern Masters in Pale Gold, one of my favorite golds, ever. We dont want to bring on the bling too much.
Just make sure to brush out your strokes so you dont leave ridges and lap lines where the paint is!!
Using, Annie Sloan Duck Egg Blue Chalk paint, paint the piece, but do not cover completely.
Cover about 90% leaving some bare strokes to expose a lot of the gold and some of the bare wood. This is so you get a heavier distressed look
without so much sanding which would remove some of the gold.
You could also use something under the blue to resist like wax but this gives me better control.
Paint your second coat of chalk paint continuing to leave some gold and wood exposed.
Step a way from your piece at this time and see if you like the exposed areas..you can always add more paint to cover up. If its looking good to you, after your final chalk paint layer is dry,
you can distress with 100 grit sand paper, concentrating on edges and places where furniture would naturally age.
Here is the door before the last step, waxing with plain and then dark wax.
Last, apply a coat of plain wax followed by dark wax....
and add some new ribbon shaped pulls, 3 floral appliques and a vintage mirror.
I rescued this mirror after it had been left out in the rain and had started coming apart
at the joints. She had to be acclimatizing to room temperature after carefully re-assembling, gluing, and clamping, but shes a beautiful portrait again every time you gaze into her.
Okay lets get to the jelly, the hidden gem, the icing in the Oreo .....
A drawer with too many holes or holes that are too big:
But, the holes were too big so I had to fill them in.
Then, I needed more holes too, so I had to mark and drill them.
