Elephant Ear Dresser

More and more of my conversations with people are starting with: 

"I have this really old (blank). 

It doesn't look that great at all, 

but I really think you could do something great with it."

Here's the latest (blank):

I'm calling it the "Elephant Ear Dresser" because from the moment my friend told me about it, I just felt like it needed to be grey and pink, and go in a little girl's room. I have this ribbon with grey elephants on it, and I guess it was in the back of my mind as inspiration for my next piece. I've never looked inside and elephant's ear, but I imagine it being pink. (Don't correct me if I'm wrong… let me believe the lie.)

I have a feeling this piece was originally green, then maybe someone wanted it pink? Thick pink? I'm a little confused on that piece of the painting puzzle.

I was lucky because a lot of the prep work had been done for me, because someone started scraping all the paint off. All I had to do was sand it smooth.

It got a full coat of a coral/pepto bismol/bubble gum pink first, then I covered it all in grey. 

(See Godiva in her usual "helping" position? It looks like we were BBQ-ing that night.)

I knew I wanted it to be owl grey. But I went into my stash of paint and it was nowhere to be found! I was so set to get this baby done, the sun was setting, and I needed my owl grey! I just ended up making my own. I added some "oops" beige to a dark grey I had on hand. Who knows if they were satin, flat, gloss… but it came out perfect. 

I also knew I wanted some peek-a-boo pink on the sides of the drawers. The drawers were in pretty good shape inside, but I always like to line my drawers with fabric. 

I chose this yellow/pink/grey fabric for the drawers.

I also put the same fabric on the back, just to give it some "peek-a-boo" fun. The back of the dresser was also the only part of the piece that wasn't real wood. It needed some prettification. 

So with it painted, I distressed it so the pink would show through, and then used Miss Mustard Seed's Antiquing Wax over the whole thing. 

If you know me, you know I fall in love with the imperfections in the wood.

As much as I wanted to go all trendy with the knobs, I went economical (knobs are expensive!) and I actually think the brushed nickel is way cuter and streamlines the piece. Anything else would have been too busy. 

It sold, via Instagram, within 6 hours of posting it. That's a record!! It was actually spoken for by 2 different people within the first hour, but ended up in one of their hands within 6 hours. Better yet, if I could have made a custom dresser for the little girl who's room it ended up in, I would have made this exact dresser! She's one of my dance students. 

Aloha, Rebecca

Read more ...

Wizard of Oz Dresser

What kid doesn't love The Wizard of Oz? By the age of 10, I had the entire cassette tape (with songs and dialogue) memorized. I'd recite it on long road trips across various continents, driving the people in the car nuts! (Sorry guys). My daughter now loves the movie and her reaction to my skill of knowing the whole thing by heart is in stark contrast to my childhood experience because she readily accepts it and begs me to recite all the dialogue and sing all the songs. I LOVE IT. 

In my first few months of blogging, I came across this post over at Inspired by Charm, called "Ode to Oz." I have never forgotten it and still think it is one of the most clever ideas ever.  

source

Everything on this cupboard alludes to The Wizard of Oz. Perfection.

Ok, back to my dresser.

Down below you can see it peeking out of the corner in Ivy's room

Here's a head-on shot, totally under-exposed:

This dresser belonged to my aunt and she had it since she was 18 years old. We ended up with it after she moved back to the mainland and I promised her I would keep it in the family and in great condition. It worked in Ivy's room for a time, but the drawers were hard for her to open and she couldn't really reach the top ones. Also, what 4 year old needs 6 drawers for their clothing?

So I decided I was going to put it in my room. Some of the paint was chipping off and the gorgeous key holes had been painted right over, and it just needed some TLC and new life. So I started to peel back a little of the paint, and discovered we were dealing with 3 coats of paint!

Top layer: cream. 2nd layer: bright yellow. 3rd layer: forest green. 4th layer: solid wood.

This stuff did not want to come off. I fought it and fought it. Splinters, cuts, chemical burns, sore shoulders, you name it, I endured it to get down to the wood. I actually left a little bit of the green on it in places, and then dry brushed some off-white (shiloh) because I wanted it to show through under the black to give it depth. It was so fun to sand those key holes because they came out bright shiny gold.

For some reason I'm painting all our furniture black. Well, this is only the second piece I've done, but I'm a little obsessed. I've been using Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in Typewriter. Here's a link to the other dresser I painted black: click here. I covered up the key hole with painter's tape and used a razor blade to cut perfectly around it so I could paint smoothly. Look at that workmanship!!

In comparison to the body of the piece, the drawers were a piece of cake. To get the 3 coats of paint off the body, I had to call in the authorities.  

My dad had out every tool he owns. I learned a lot about power tools that day.  

I discovered a little bondo/wood filler on the bottom right of the piece, but other than that it was pretty awesome all bare like that!

I dry brushed on a little more shiloh, on top of the splotchy green, then covered it all in black. 

The inside of the drawers needed some attention as they were rough and had some stains. I used clear shellac and some cute fabric to line the inside. I also painted the outside sides of the drawers in shiloh to give it a clean look when you opened and closed them. That white thing on the inside is washi tape covering the sharp end of the knobs so it doesn't tear my clothes. 

These knobs are the Green Faucet Metal Knobs from Hobby Lobby. On sale now for $2.99!

I used Miss Mustard Seed's Hemp Oil on the entire piece, then went over that with her Furniture Oil. I LOVE her Furniture Oil. I'm still getting used to the smell of the Hemp Oil. It's very earthy. :)

So here it is in our master bedroom. 

That black and white photo on the wall is from Urban Outfitters.

The pink Maui print is from Ashley Johnston Design.

It's at the foot of the bed, flanked by pieces of my husband's art, which we just moved in there. I have the Grey accent chair I blogged about here to the right of it. 

So, why call it "The Wizard of Oz" dresser? Here's my reasons:

1. The name "6 drawer dresser" is boring.

2. Those green knobs are something I could see Uncle Henry using on the farm

3. It came to me in a very mono-chromatic cream color, and it's now black, alluding to the first 17 minutes of the movie which are completely sepia toned.

4. Once I dug a little deeper I came across a layer of yellow paint: the Yellow Brick Road

5. The Yellow Brick Road led to the green layer of paint, the Emerald City

6. Once I went through all of that, we're back to the safety of our black and white sepia home.

And that's the story of my Wizard of Oz dresser.

One last tip. Per my husband's advice, I've been using a bar of soap to make sure my solid wood drawers go in and out with ease. It works like a charm. Anywhere on the drawers or on the body of the dresser that's going to slide wood to wood, you slide the soap along it. Make sure it's oil free. Scented is ok. :)

Aloha,

Rebecca

Read more ...

ALOHA Friday Link Party #21 - Black Valentine Features

Welcome to Jed & Ivy's

Aloha Friday
Link Party #21!

BLACK VALENTINE FEATURES

I know it's Valentine's Day, so I'm featuring one V-Day project, but other than that, I've got a thing for dining tables and the color black right now. If you read my post, "Recent Changes,"you know that our dining table just recently went from wood-to-black-to-antiquedwood in a matter of a week. (My husband's doing, not mine-- we love it in it's final state). Ironically, Lauren of "At Home Sweet Home" linked up a black dining table and a black dresser. I love them both!

At Home Sweet Home 

At Home Sweet Home

And of course, to go with the BLACK VALENTINE theme, "4 You With Love" linked up these Solid Lotion Bars, and photographed them on a black background, so I think they're perfect! I also love Coconut Oil and Beeswax, which she used in these. Have you ever used a solid lotion bar? I got one a couple summers ago from LUSH and I liked it, but the scent was a little strong. A DIY version might be my best bet!

ANNOUNCEMENT
I'm finding it difficult to maintain the Aloha Friday party, so I've decided to leave it up for two weeks at a time. I don't want to do away with it all together, because I love seeing the projects and spreading the features to my readers to give everyone more exposure, but I just can't commit to doing it every week. You can link up as much as you want in that two week period, which will give me plenty to choose from every other week. Aloha!

<a href="http://jedandivy.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Jed & Ivy" src="http://jedandivy.blogspot.com/"/></a>

Pau Hana! 

It's the end of the week, end of the year, end of the holidays. Let's party!

DIY projects - Etsy products - Giveaways - Furniture Re-do's (my fave) - Sewing Tutorials - Inspiring Stories

By linking up, you're allowing me to feature your photos on this blog and pin them. 

Share the Aloha and visit some links!

<a href="http://www.jedandivy.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Jed & Ivy" src="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f275/gerry100/linkparty2.png"/></a>

Don't forget about my new blog, "Best Bunting on the Block!" Link up your bunting by clicking here.

Aloha,

Rebecca

Read more ...