This sweet little drawer set had been waiting for a makeover for a long time. It really was quite beautiful but had been terribly neglected. Woodworm to the base and back, battered top and stuck drawers & rusty wheels on the legs. A whole lot of love and hard work had to be put into it, which together with a lack of ideas, meant it had been relegated to the back of the garage for months.
After a long day of clearing the garage out and taking an inventory of pieces I had even forgotten about, I decided it was finally time to tackle this one. It had been long enough! The rusty wheels were pulled out (with a lot of huffing and puffing!) I replaced the base and back panels with plywood from my local wood yard. I enjoy popping round there with all the hardcore builders, just needing a simple piece of ply or tiny sliver of wood, and all the time the guys just smile and help me out. They are always eager to see the finished pieces too. Everyone should make friends with their local wood yard! I set about treating the worm and spent a long time in the sun sanding it all over. It was also possibly one of the dirtiest pieces I have ever worked on. I certainly hadn't imagined that a relatively small piece would require such an investment of time!
I must admit that I used the incredible General Finishes stain blocker all over. It goes a long way and when you want to paint something white, it really does work. Bone White chalk style paint is a truly beautiful colour. I had been painting lots of dark things over the winter and really wanted to go totally the other way and go light. Whilst not normally my go-to finish, the chalk style paint does cover really well and only two coats later it was done. The unit has two inset panels to the sides and I always love to put paper details in these - with a pattern or design that blends seamlessly with the paint colour. This gold and marble design was perfect - simple enough but yet added a bit of something special.
I had managed to salvage and clean up the original hardware and once the piece had a few layers of High Performance Top Coat on, I thought I was done. But something was missing. I'm not sure where the inspiration came from, but I felt that the turned feet at the front really needed to stand out, and gold leaf was surely the answer! Not too much bling but just enough, coupled with the marble paper, to make a totally unique and special piece of furniture. So I carefully applied the size and looked forward to the next morning...
I don't know why I seem to persist with gilding in the garden but I thought surely two little feet can't be that bad?! I laughed the whole time and without doubt used twice as much gold leaf as I probably needed, but at last the feet were done and once they were sealed with lacquer, looked fabulous. The final part to complete the piece. It's not a tall piece so I had even painted and papered the reverse, thinking that maybe it would look nice at the foot of a bed.
The lady that actually bought it had plans to use it for make-up storage in her new en-suite - great idea! I agreed to hold it for a while until her renovation was further along and so, a few weeks later when she told me that her builder was ready for it, I loaded it up in the car ready for delivery. When I arrived at the house I thought I had gone to the wrong place. I checked her address on my phone. Twice. I had pictured a fixer-upper but this was a demolition site! There was no footpath - only a skinny plank over a very deep hole. I am not even sure what was holding the front door up. And there were no walls downstairs. At all. The builder looked as confused as me when he finally answered. I have never (nor since) carried a piece of furniture over a plank and my lasting memory of this sweet set of drawers was putting them in a room with half a floor, bare brick walls & enough tools and materials to fill a warehouse. Oh my! I spent ages composing a tactful message to suggest that she tells her builders to be VERY careful and cover it up. Needless to say I am still waiting for the photos she promised me when the room was completed! Hopefully all the effort from both sides will be worth it :)
