Vintage Botanical Dresser 

Yes, it’s ME!  I have something new and exciting to share with you. Well, something old that I made look even older.  But New To You!

My Vintage Botanical Dresser.  Vintage Botanical is not my usual MO, but I decided to try something out of my comfort zone.  Try it, it’s good for you to do something out of your comfort zone every day, and this was wayyyy out of my comfort zone.

It started with my friend Jennifer from Artistic Painting Studio and Fauxy Rollers.  Jennifer sent me the Leaf Pattern Roller to try and some of her wonderful plaster.  

This was my dresser before. Basic Craigs List Find.  Nice Basset Dresser, ho hum. 

The drawers were AWOL for this picture.  The hardware was your basic Brass 1980’s big plate hardware.  I removed all of the hardware and replaced with elegant Glass Knobs from Hobby Lobby.  And! I got them all at 50% off.  LOVE those half off hardware days!

I painted the entire piece in Crinoline from Debi’s Design Diary DIY Paint. It’s Clay Based and is the only paint on the market with this base.  It is  100% Natural, and is like painting with liquid Velvet.  It doesn’t hurt that the labels are so adorable too.  

I then used a metal trowel to put a thin coat of the plaster over the drawer fronts.  While the plaster was still wet, I ran the Leaf pattern roller through it.  It took me a few tries to get the look I wanted.  The plaster stays wet for a while so you can roll through it, doesn’t look right?  Smooth it out with your trowel and roll through again.

Watch this video of Jennifer showing how it’s done:

When the plaster dried, I painted 1 Coat of Crinoline over this.  Next step, I used DIY Paint’s Big Top Clear Coat.  This coat is to protect the surface from absorbing any oils from hands that touch it, but also to create a “barrier” for my finishing touch.  Clay Paint is very absorbent, so if you want to use a glaze or dark wax over it, I always recommend using DIY 100% Natural Clear Wax or one of their Liquid Clear Coats.  

Now to make that Leaf Imprint really stand out and give a super cool Vintage look to this piece, I painted on 1 thin coat of DIY’s Dark and Decrepit Liquid Patina (don’t you love the names?).  I used a large chip brush to paint in on, then used a painters rag to wipe off the excess.  If it is drying to quickly, I recommend keeping a spray bottle of water near by to reactivate the Liquid Patina.  

Something else really fun to try with that spray bottle.  After you have the desired amount of Dark Patina in place, mist the surface here and there with the water bottle.  It creates a natural “aged” look, like the glaze wore off in little natural fine areas.   And, if you totally mess up, just spritz the area with a lot of water and wipe it all off before it dries.  

After the Dark Patina dried, I took my brush dipped in a little more Dark Patina and naturally darkened the edges of the drawers, areas where the piece would have been touched and darkened over the years.

I had so much fun with this project.  I am looking around my stash to see what else I can try it on.  If you have a ho hum plain dresser, piece of wood, cabinet door, anything!  Try Fauxy Rollers, there are endless patterns to choose from, and you can even cut them in half to do smaller projects.  They are a soft latex/rubber so they clean up really easily too.  You can use them literally hundreds of times.

This dresser is going up for sale on my community sale pages.  If you live near me and are interested, let me know!  Everyone could use some Vintage Botanical in their lives.

One more thing, if you have not checked out the DIYPaint.co home page, you are missing out.  It is THE cutest website for paint you will ever see.  Even if you are not interested in paint, give yourself a little happy moment and head over there to see what I mean.