Coral Beauty

It's a good thing that I live in a pretty big house cause ever since I started my business, my home has become a storage space for all those pieces that won't fit in the storage shed out back.

Sometimes they end up in the dining room and some in the living room.

  Sometimes those extras even spill over to my covered patio.  That's what happened with this vintage dresser that I got at a thrift store, over a year ago.

This was my first shot at repairing a piece in some major ways.  Like the veneer was coming off in sheets, one leg was damaged, the drawers didn't close properly and the list goes on.  I turned to the blogs I follow to figure out what to do about the veneer.  It came off the sides pretty easy but in my zeal to remove it from the tops I guess I went too far. Following the instructions I got I placed wet towels on the tops to loosen the veneer and this seemed to be working pretty well.  However, I continued to place wet towels on it till all the veneer came off - and until the tops were so warped they had to be replaced.  Lucky for me my husband has a friend who is a wood worker and he replaced the tops for me!!!  Thanks Ben!

After that fiasco I left that dresser sitting on the patio for another 6 months before I got the nerve to touch it again.  Every once in a while my husband would ask me when I planned on finishing it and I always told him  "it's on my list".  He helped me fix the drawers and some other minor things until finally I drug it into the house, back to my workroom.  And it sat in there a while too.   I just wasn't getting any color inspiration

Bondo to the rescue 

But that changed when I started retailing Junk Gypsy™ Chalk and Clay Paint.  The vibrant colors spoke to me and I finally had a plan for the dresser.  I had done a workshop for a friend of mine and a couple of the ladies wanted a coral color, which JG doesn't have but we knew we could mix colors to get what we wanted, sorta.  We mixed a little of this and a little of that till we had the coral they wanted.  Problem was, I wasn't taking measurements and chances were I would never match that exact color again.  Luckily I mixed enough for their projects.  


After seeing those coral pieces I knew I wanted that for this dresser.  And this time I did things a little more carefully.  Like I measured the paints and made samples for all kinds of variations till I got one I liked.  And believe me I will hang onto these paint sticks for future      reference.  The paints I used were American Dream,        Granny's Cornbread, and Dreamcatcher.                                                                                                                  




 All you have to do then is add more red or yellow or white to get the shade you're after.  All of these samples were fine but I really liked the one that had 2 parts of the red to one part of the other two.  So I mixed it up and started painting.









 The drawers were done in Buttermilk Biscuit, a creamy, dreamy white I just love!

Remember I told you the veneer came off the sides in sheets and I wasn't sure what to do after that but glory be to Pinterest, I found my inspiration in paintable wall paper.

It went on easy and added just the right look.  And it really is paintable!  After painting the whole piece I decided to leave the wallpaper portions with the chalky finish - it seemed to add a little something.

I love the look of the painted wallpaper!

  Clear coat on all the rest and now she's in my booth at The Antique Gallery in Lewisville.

There's a new piece on the patio; it got moved up from the shed and is waiting on it's space in the workroom.  It has peeling veneer too but I'll try the iron method this time.  Till next time!!