My Precious

Charlee Hunter
by Charlee Hunter
3 Materials
$60
2 Weeks
Easy

My friend (and if you read any of my other posts you know exactly 'which friend' I'm talking about) had a dresser in her bedroom. I wanted it. Like bad.


She had tried to find me one like it, but I ended up with 'Gerard' (Garage Garbage finds new life) instead. While Gerard turned out wonderful, he still was not a good fit for what I needed in my bathroom. Too dark (and handsome LOL), too short , too wide and not near enough storage... sigh.


Several weeks later she happens to find another dresser that matches the rest of her bedroom suite... aaaannnndddd I got the other dresser that I really wanted! Got in my truck and chanted 'mine, mine ALL mine!' just about all the way there! I really felt the need to call her 'My Precious' as I was about as obsessed as Gollum was with his ring!

Hmmm I adore making over furniture, I may have a problem ...LOL

So here is the Before pic of Precious. She was dark and sultry.. One of the few pieces of furniture that I have ever taken on that was in BEAUTIFUL shape.. Score! (Because of this, it was one of my quickest makeovers :)

I already had the ‘look’ I wanted to achieve in mind, so Precious didn’t need to ‘speak’ to me (I probably would have ignored her input any way!) It was such a dark finish I really wasn’t sure that I could achieve what I wanted, but full steam ahead (hence why my mother has nick named me ‘bull moose’…ha!). 

The first thing I did was to take apart the drawers. The drawer fronts came off which was a bonus because the actual drawers were in awesome shape. Then I got out the Citristrip and went to town removing all the dark stain and clear coat. To take off any residual stripper, I used mineral spirts and steel wool. Once completely dry I sanded them all down. I did not sand it uniform, I left some ‘darker’ spots on purpose, I wanted a bit of variation in the wood.

Then, because I wanted a lighter look, I got out my pickling stain (Minwax). For those of you not familiar with this type of stain, it is usually meant for a much more “grainier” wood, such as Oak. It is meant to leave a ‘white’ residue in the grain of the wood. But it did the job I needed even on this much less grainy wood (no I don’t know what type it is). I Brushed on the stain, left it on 10 minutes and wiped off. LOVED the lightness it gave and the sheen of ‘white’ left behind. Around the edge, I used FMP Picket fence. I brushed it on and immediately wiped it back (I did not want a harsh white line around the drawers. I finished the top of the dresser in the same manner as the drawers.

For the body of the dresser, I scuffed and painted with FMP Picket fence. NO sanding down, NO primer, NO problem!! I tested a spot and could not believe the coverage this gave! It went on so well and the coverage over that dark finish was AMAZING! (I have been a longtime fan of FMP (Fusion Mineral Paint), this made me love it even more). I did two coats, scuffed with 400 grit sandpaper between coats, and then a last coat a bit watered down to finish. I didn’t use anything else, as I wanted a crisp, clean, white look.

I then applied the ‘Old World’ Prima Transfer to the sides, and clear coated with Dixie Bell’s Gatorhide. Fusion Mineral Paint has a built in top coat, so doesn't really need a top coat, but the transfer does and since Precious was going to be in my bathroom, I just covered all the white areas.

In this picture you can also see that I stripped the legs, added the pickling stain and put a white stripe around them. If you've seen my post "Nemesis", on her I used a transfer from IOD, this transfer is from Re-designed by Prima.

The drawers were top coated with a new product from FMP, "Bees Wax Finish" (I had just purchased it and hadn't used it, OMG I love this stuff!). The top wood also got the Bees Wax Finish. Once dried, I used a soft cloth to buff to a wonderful soft sheen.


Here is Precious in her brand new outfit! To top off the look she got brand new brushed nickel hardware (Amazon)!

Precious loved her new ‘jewelry’ and her new look! She really thought she needed a night on the town.. I told her that she would have to settle for club music on Alexa and me singing along in the shower… poor Precious!

Showing off her transfer :)

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3 of 4 questions
  • Vicki McDonald Vicki McDonald on May 18, 2021

    How do you "scuff?" Is that like distressing?

  • Di Di on Jun 27, 2021

    Love love love, dresser and wall.

    where did you get the wheels , that are under the dresser legs?

  • Dis62857339 Dis62857339 on May 04, 2022

    what does FMP mean? and what is prima transfer and dixie bell???? oh, i see what fmp is but how to use it and where to find it???

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4 of 36 comments
  • Paulette Norris Paulette Norris on May 05, 2022

    You've inspired me to copy this technique! Beautiful job! You can see the painstakingly care you took in completing this task. I feel the love!

  • Eva Eva on May 05, 2022

    What a difference ❗️

    This is a beautiful & well-done project 🎨 📏 ✏️

    I really love it ❤️

    Thank you for sharing 👍️

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