Bridge Dresser

By Andrea Klercke, Furniture Artist/Owner at Home Girl Decor in Morrow, OH.

Distressing a mirror has been on my "to do" list for some time.  When I ran across this antique dresser and mirror, it was in such bad shape that I decided it might be the perfect piece to experiment with.  Anything would be an improvement!  And then I started to wonder, if I removed some of the mirror and put a photo behind the mirror, would it give the effect of me being in the image when I looked in the mirror?  I had to find out!

It's pretty big mirror so I would need a giant size poster.  I had a supply that I use for decoupaging, but none of them felt right. I looked on line and at all of my favorite craft stores and still couldn't find an image I thought would work.  I was looking for hardware for another project and was drawn to a black and white chevron set because the black chevron pattern reminded me of the bridge supports of my favorite local landmark, and old bridge on the bike trail that runs through our town.  So I bought the hardware and had a black and white poster printed from a photograph of the bridge to coordinate with the hardware, and then strategically removed parts of the image to reveal enough of the image that you could tell what it was.  The mirror turned out wonderful!  The only problem is that the reflection  makes it very hard to photograph.

I wanted a lighter blue color for the dresser to sort of represent the water under the bridge and to work well with the hardware.  I had a can of duck egg blue chalk paint that I purchased in error to match something a client had started, and when I went back to exchange it a couple of hours later for the correct color, the store would not exchange the unopened paint!   So duck egg blue it was.

Some of the wood veneer on the top of the dresser was missing and what was left was not in good shape so I decided to remove it.  The frame that attaches the mirror to the dresser was in pieces and had to be glued together.  Once all repairs were done, the piece was painted with the duck egg blue.  After distressing and wet-sanding smooth, the duck egg chalk paint was sealed with Gf High Performance Top Coat.  I knew I wanted to glaze this dresser to show off the pretty details and I decided on black because of the black and white hardware.  The glaze was made with watered down GF Lamp Black Milk Paint.  GFHP Top Coat in flat was used again as a final sealer.  The sides and the interior of the drawers were painted with ultra white latex paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Products Used

  • AS Duck Egg Blue Chalk Paint
  • GF High Performance Top Coat
  • GF Lamp Black Milk Paint
  • Ultra White Latex Paint

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