When last we left off, I was refurbishing an old wooden dresser in order to avoid shopping for one. Also, like other Tucsonans, I am in the throes of the autumn version of spring fever. It’s like what the rest of you get when the sun finally comes out after a long winter, only in reverse. After months of huddling next to our air conditioning vents, we can finally go outside! In the middle of the day! All those projects we ignored, as our ambition evaporated with triple-digit temps, suddenly seem possible. I feel a little manic, but in a good way.
After much sanding and prepping, the painting went well but when it dried, the dresser looked a little more orange than the terra cotta I was shooting for. (The colors in these photos are not true, so you’ll have to use your imagination.) The pillow on the right is the color I wanted.
Judy, who knows about these things, suggested wiping a little walnut stain over the paint to tone it down and give it more of an antiqued look. I bought a small can of gel stain and attempted to read the directions on the can. They looked like this.
I tried a different pair of glasses. I carried the can into better light. Then I took it to Mike. He began to read: “Before and occasionally throughout the project, stir until crazy…hmm, that’s probably not right. What’s that word there?”
“I can’t read it. That’s why I brought it to you.”
“Oh! Stir until creamy. Wait, is this next word prosthesis?”
As it turned out, we could have spared ourselves a lot of squinting because after I wiped down two of the drawer faces with the stain, I hated it.
Sadly, while it’s easy to stain over paint, you cannot just slap another coat of latex paint over the stain if you don’t like it. It won’t stick. Back to the sanding block I went, taking the finish almost all the way down to the gross white paint I started with. I now have arms like Michelle Obama’s. Then I painted the drawer fronts. Again.
All that sanding gave me an idea, though. I decided to “distress” the edges of the dresser to give some definition to the lines so it would have a little character. What I am saying is that after doing my best to make sure the paint on this dresser was as smooth and even as I could possibly get it, I intentionally screwed it up to make it look old again. Then I applied polyurethane to protect the screwed up finish. I cannot explain this in any way that makes sense.
It did take awhile to read the directions on the back of the can of polyurethane.
And removing the top of the can was a challenge, since the black-on-black directions appeared to say, “To open, pity off.” Turns out the word was “pry,” which was a much more effective approach.
We started here…
And after a few days’ work that was more fun than you’d think it would be, I’ve got this…
Damn, it really looks orange in these pictures. It’s not. I swear.
Your brother, who has much experience reading fine print, has magnifying glasses strategically located throughout the house. These are the cure for fine print.
Very nice. Looks beautiful now and you know it’s made well too. I have the assortment of magnifying glasses but I find that I must buy more (why do they keep reducing the size of the print??).