Beachy & Neutral Union Jack Dresser
There is one thing that I cannot stop obsessing about : The Union Jack on everything. Pillows, furniture, my 5 year old's t-shirts. So it was about time I made one just for my home!
Truth be told I’ve been envisioning this Beachy & Neutral Union Jack piece for about a year. Last fall, Meg and I participated in a Holiday Bazaar put on by the Fort Leavenworth Spouses Club in Kansas. It was our first big craft fair and we wanted to open with a bang, so when we were talking about an “attention grabber” for our booth, I knew what I wanted to do.
I had such a blast doing this piece (and it sold in the first 30 seconds that the market was open!). So when a super sweet & special customer emailed us with pictures of some dressers she was selling before her PCS (Permanent Change of Station : Big Move!) to Korea, I saw exactly the piece I had been waiting for.
Swoon! Isn’t he gorgeous? Okay, well he would be. You can’t see it very well in the pictures but there are these deep crevices all along the sides of the dresser which I knew would look fabulous with a heavy distressing. Being that my entire house is white, beachy, cozy, neutral colors and teals I was sure he would be pretty handsome as a coastal style piece (and would fit right in….which means I wouldn’t have to sell him! And my husband would have no leg to stand on with that argument).
After taping, re-taping, painting, re-taping, taping (you get the picture) I was finally ready to distress and seal him. Instead of reaching for my go-to Waxing Cream, this time I was excited to whip out my brand new Endurance, which is a non-yellowing polyurethane finish specifically designed for tabletops. This would be super important since this piece is a drink station, potentially opening it up to water/coffee/wine/whiskey spills. And can I just say – wow! I love this stuff and my arm was super excited to get a break from all the buffing that waxing requires. I just grabbed a clean, natural bristle paintbrush and painted it on! After 2 hours, I lightly sanded the entire piece with fine grit sandpaper and applied a second coat. I found my all time favorite cup pulls at Home Depot and quickly housed my Keurig, bourbon and wine on top of it.
I’m still looking for a vintage bottle drying rack to mount on the wall to the right of the drink station and display my coffee cups on, but for a 24-hour project I think this turned out pretty great! The beachy colors really compliment and bring out the sunflowers in my favorite family picture above the dresser that was taken in Kansas. *For more on how to paint your own Union Jack and the steps I took, please visit the blog post by clicking the link below!*
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