Ooo la la, I have Paris on my mind. I recently finished reading “The Paris Wife”, (which I highly recommend). The book is about Hemingway and his time in Paris and Europe with his 1st wife. I was so taken with the book, I had to paint a dresser I call “The Hemmingway”
I bought the dresser for a bargain ($15). It actually had the most paint in one color I have ever seen. I am guessing there were at least 2 gallons of white on this thing. And, it had some kind of green toxic sludge adhered to the pulls. I think the previous owner was experimenting with a chemical reaction that went bad and it ended up on the pulls….
Anyhow, I saw past the gook and imagined a rugged, but elegant dresser, solid lines, but with a touch of softness as well.
Try as I might, I could not find “before photos of the dresser, or the toxic sludge, but it looked something like this:
No matter what I tried, it wasn’t budging, I had to bring in the big guns.
After a 24 hour bath in the paint stripper, a really thorough scrubbing with a wire brush, and finally a good rinse…..I spray painted the pulls silver, then heavily distressed them with Steel Wool. I added Chrystal knobs to the top drawer to soften it a bit.
I did the body of the piece in ASCP “Coco”, and the drawers in ASCP “Paris Grey”. I made a glaze of black colorant, very watered down and went over the drawers, then went over them again with a warm brown glaze, I did the same for the body of the dresser.
Although this was a tough piece to complete, I don’t think I worked on it nearly as much as Hemingway did to complete “The Sun Also Rises”. If you want to know about that story, and how it relates to “The Paris Wife”, see HERE.
If Hemingway were still around, hopefully he would have a piece of furniture that looked something like this one:
To sum it all up, yep, this dresser was a labor of sweat, toil, and very dried out hands. But in the words of Hemingway……. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated”
I thought I might destroy this piece at one point, it was such a pain, but I didn’t let it defeat me, and good thing I didn’t! Thanks Ernest.
Linking up with these lovely parties:
love the look of this one and the finish!
YEE HAW! Girl that is incredible! I can only imagine the sludge (per your pic) and how hard that must of been to get off!!! Your color combo is wonderful!
Toxic sludge… lol! Well, it sure came out pretty. Erm. Handsome? Well… I like it. The crystal pulls on top are perfection.
your redoux came at the right time for me! I had a delivery of something very similar to my store on Saturday and I am at a loss for what to do with it. I painted the body Country Grey and now I can't decide on the drawers. I was thinking of darker…then lighter….then darker again- ultimately I still haven't decided, but I am glad that yours turned out nicely with the different colours of body and drawers.
This is just gorgeous. Please, please, please share at Restyled Sundays!
Beautiful! I recently read “A Moveable Feast” so I get your vibe. I will put your book on my reading list. Thanks. 🙂
This looks amazing. I would really love to see what the before picture looked like! I love all things french, so I was attracted to your blog right away. Nice job! Visiting from Restore Interiors! I am now your newest follower! Nice job!
Awesome finish! I love the softness of the color variations and the knobs turned out fabulous!
What a pretty finish on this piece! Love it!
I am so in love with this dresser!! It is perfection! I'm featuring it tomorrow on my Favorite Friday Finds…come grab a button when you get a chance. 🙂 Amazing job!!
A stunning chest! I adore the weathered look you have created.
I love this dresser!! It looks so good! Love the hardware too! I featured it today!
http://craptastickatie.blogspot.com/2011/12/five-feature-friday-20.html
This is my first visit but not my last. First of all I LOVE your name. Are you from NOLA?
Glad you didn't destroy that wonderful dresser. Perseverance paid off in spades! Lovely.
Oooooo, I like the double crystal pulls. Great idea!
DYING over this one. SO pretty!