Heavily distressed. Chippy paint galore!

I do all of my furniture painting at my grandparents house. They have a huge garage in their backyard filled with power tools and I’ve pretty much taken over the place. It is filled with gallons of paint, tons of vintage furniture, and all sorts of other junk that I have collected. I’m there usually two days out of the week and it’s great to get my work done while visiting with my grandparents. I enlist them now and then for help too. Usually they are a great help, but my grandpa really doesn’t understand the whole shabby, distressed thing.

For example, when I started working on this dresser I covered it in candle wax. My grandpa said to me, “What the hell  are ya doin? Paints not gonna stick to that!!” to which I replied, “That’s the point grandpa!” When I finished he said, “It looks like _____” (Fill in the blank. He was a sailor, and still curses like one) Anyways, the last time he said something looked, um, terrible, it sold in less than a week. If he doesn’t like it I know it looks good.

I loooove the way this dresser turned out! It looks like it is super old and has been beaten and abused for years. I’m a big fan of chippy paint and things that are far from perfect, so this look is right up my alley. This is my first time using this color  and I’m excited to use it on other pieces. The paint is Valspar. The color is Garden Gate.

Here is what the dresser looked like before I got my hands on it. The best part about it was the gorgeous antique glass knobs. The knobs where yucky and crusty, so I soaked them in lacquer thinner for a bit and then scrubbed them clean. Now they sparkle like new.

So here she is! All dolled up!!