IKEA Dresser Meets Miss Mustard Seed

Milk Paint has long been an intrigue of mine. I first learned about it when I started Pretty Distressed back in 2014, and found about Miss Mustard Seed paint. If you don't follow Marian's blog, Miss Mustard Seed, you should. She is a real inspiration to furniture painters.

I was wasting time one day in downtown Geneva, Ill. before I had to pick up the kids from school and wondered into an antique shop who just happened to carry the paint. I snagged the last bag of Farmhouse White they had. I couldn't wait to get it home and play around with it! I had an IKEA dumpster dive in my garage that was screaming for a makeover and my youngest was in desperate need of more drawer space.

As my avid followers are aware, I am a big fan and user of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I love it for the ease of no prep furniture painting. For those who are thinking about trying Milk Paint, it really is a entirely different animal. It comes in powder form and you mix it with water to create a milky consistent paint. You can do some really cool things with it. The one that intrigued me the most was a really chippy look.

Goodwill Dresser Video Tutorial - Part 3 (Dark Wax)

Thanks for coming back to see the last installment of my Goodwill Dresser video tutorial series. Today, I am covering the topic that seems to give most furniture refinishers the highest anxiety- dark wax. But let me put your fears to rest, it isn't really that tricky to master.  Annie Sloan Dark Wax is amazing stuff. It gives your piece an instant antique look that would normally take about a hundred years to occur naturally.

In case you don't know anything about my Goodwill Dresser, here she is.

I created this series, so you can get this same look right in your home. I think this will always be one of my favorite pieces, and once you create your own, you might just feel the same.

Here are some links to products used in this tutorial:

Dark wax brush

Steel wool

Annie Sloan Clear Wax

Annie Sloan Dark Wax

Make sure you check out the other videos in this series, Part 1 and Part 2. I would love to see your creations, so send me your before and after shots if you decided to try this technique out on your own. 

Goodwill Dresser Video Tutorial Part 2

The second part of my Goodwill dresser video tutorial is here. Last time, I covered painting the piece and hardware. Today, I will show you how to distress and clear wax the piece using sandpaper and Annie Sloan Clear Wax.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Tutorial - Heavy Distressing (Part 2)

If you need a little more help on either distressing or clear waxing check out my other video tutorials. I have one for distressing and one for clear waxing.

Here are links to all the products used in this tutorial:

Wax brush

Tack Cloth 

Sand Paper 

Sanding Block

Purdy Clearcut Glide brush

Annie Sloan Clear Wax

Originally, I thought I could break this tutorial into two parts, but I wanted to make sure they are thorough enough for the novice to average painter. Part three will come next week and will cover the most daunting part in my opinion- dark wax. But seriously, it isn't that scary. Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel to be one of the first to see the final video once it goes live.

Goodwill Dresser Video Tutorial - Part 1

This link contains affiliate links. I will receive a small commission from products purchased through these links.

I am still as in love with my Goodwill Dresser as the day I painted it. Above any other piece, this is the one I get the most questions about, so I decided to divulge my secret on how I created it using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® in Old White. Get your painting clothes on, roll up your sleeves and get ready to dive in to create your own heavily distressed beauty.

This tutorial will be broken up into three parts and will show you how to create a very heavily distressed piece just like my Goodwil Dresser. Think heavy brush strokes, lots of distressing with sandpaper and lots of dark wax. 

In part one, I show you how to prep and paint the piece and hardware. Make sure you check out the description on YouTube for links to the products I used in this tutorial.

Part two is in the works and should be up on the blog next week. Check back to learn how to distress and clear wax your piece, or you can subscribe to my YouTube channel and you will be able to view part two as soon as it goes live. Happy painting!

Another Goodwill Makeover...Drexel Heritage Shelf

Goodwill is one of my favorite spots to find furniture rescues. Their furniture is usually pretty reasonably priced, and they even help you load it in your car. I try to hit up Goodwill every other week even if I am not looking for something specific. Frequent trips give you the best chance of finding that diamond in the rough.

I found this shelf while my daughter and I were waiting on our van to get its scheduled maintenance at our local Toyota dealer. I paid $15 for it, and from what I researched my best guess is that this is a Drexel-Heritage piece from the 1950s or 1960s which is around the time Drexel purchased Heritage, since it only has a Heritage stamp.  The company changed its name to Drexel-Heritage in 1968. I haven't been able to pinpoint its exact value, but I know it is well over $15.

Duck Egg Blue Love

It's my favorite kind of day here at Pretty Distressed- a reveal day. I recently got to refinish this roll top desk and was totally grateful that my client let me come shoot it in her home.

I have been wanting to refinish a desk for a long time, and I literally jumped for joy when she selected Duck Egg Blue (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint®) as her color. I have done accent pieces in this color all over my house, but have never been brave enough to paint an entire piece with it. I used Old White on the back of the desk to provide a little contrast and didn't wax it so it has a nice chalky look. The hardware was also painted with Old White and finished with Annie Sloan Clear Wax.

Pin-spired: Antiqued Flower Pots Just in Time for Summer

Pinterest strikes again. I was Pin-spired last week to give my old flower pots a makeover just in time for some summer flowers. I learned about using petroleum jelly to distress with spray paint from Holly over at Down to Earth Style. I followed her instructions exactly, so head over to see how it is done. Her project is with a frame but the process is the same no matter what you are painting.

Eleanor's Table - Before & After

I am super excited for this post today. Recently, I mentioned that I inherited my husband's grandmother's dining set, and today is the day for the reveal of Eleanor's table!

Repair Cracked and Chipped Furniture Like a Pro

I hope most of you saw my Goodwill dresser reveal recently. In that post, I talked about how two of the corners of the piece were damaged. It turns out, it wasn't that difficult to fix them. All I needed was some expert advice and a how-to video from home improvement guru, Ron Hazelton.

I followed his video step by step. Check out how it went.

My Goodwill find

Crack #1

Crack #2

I had to purchase some materials, but I am glad I will have them for the future in case I run into another piece that needs some TLC. 

Items I had:

clamps

putty knife

wood glue

WD-40

scrap plywood

utility knife

sandpaper

Items purchased:

Minwax wood filler

4 in 1 rasp

dowels

My Home Depot didn't have the Minwax brand of wood filler. I ended up finding it at my local Ace Hardware store. I highly recommend getting this specific brand because it worked great and allows for filing just 30 minutes after application. I also suggest getting a 4 in 1 wood rasp/file to save yourself some money. It has four different file textures on it to shape your corner in stages. Start with the coarsest side and work your way down.  

Here is a shot of getting the wood filler on. You have to work fast with this stuff because it hardens really quickly. You don't want to over work it, and clean your putty knife right away with acetone. I didn't do this the second time and ended up throwing it away because there was no getting the wood filler off once it dried. 

Also, I had nice clamps because my hubby is planning on building me a farm table for my dining room. If you don't have clamps, get some like Ron uses in his video. They are only $.99 at Home Depot.

I apologize for the blurry pictures. My lighting was really bad that day.

Here is corner #1 after cutting it out with my utility knife and filing it down with my 4 in 1 rasp. I finished it off with some 150 then 220 grit sand paper.

Here is corner #2. I had a big chunk of this drawer that I was able to glue back on with wood glue before I added the wood filler.

Completed corner #1

Completed corner #2

The finished piece

Again, thank you to Ron Hazelton, for his easy to follow tutorial. I will never be intimidated by chipped furniture again. What about you? Do you feel more comfortable tackling furniture repair now?