1920's Welsh Dresser Makeover

I was in two minds whether to actually paint this dresser, but on closer inspection decided it needed some tlc. It looked like some of it had been repaired at some time and also there were little splatters of paint on it. A couple of the drawer handles were broken so I decided to go ahead.

1920's Welsh Dresser 

Front View

Dusty cabinets with spider webs

Lovely detail on cupboard doors

Old glass detail on middle cupboard

Broken handle and paint splatters

I really had a bit of a game with the primer/undercoat. Was supposed to be one coat but ended up painting 2 coats on the parts to be painted. Admittedly, I didn't rub it down first because it was pretty rough with most of the varnish worn off so I thought it would be okay. Big mistake, but still, too late to go back now.

In the end, I did 2 coats of primer/undercoat and 3 coats of gloss paint which was supposed to be one-coat. Not impressed. The day was quite rainy but not cold so I'm not sure what was going on with this project and when I took the masking tape off, it peeled some of the paint off. Oh well, shabby chic it is. I followed on from this with some grey chalk paint and luckily this took great. Only one coat needed. We'll see how it all wears with use but at least I know that the chalk paint will work just fine.

I wallpapered the back of the 2 little cupboards with some leftover wallpaper from the lounge and also lined the drawers and cupboards.

2 coats of primer/undercoat

 

One coat gloss, too streaky

Streaky one coat gloss, 2nd coat!

Finished Dresser

Definitely looking different

Almost Finished, just need to wax

Shabby chic detail on flowers

It's quite light in our conservatory, so the grey looks a lot lighter than I would have liked but I'm hoping when I wax it, it will turn a little darker.

Lee replaced the drawer handles with some old handles he had in the garage. I'm just waiting for some door magnets so that the cupboard doors don't keep flying open, but on the whole I think it has worked out okay. I'm a little tempted to do some stencilling above the mirror. Let's see how I feel tomorrow 😋.

Before and After Photo

Gorgeous Decoupage Hare

Little Bronze coloured Hare with no ear

After the Stairs Mission I need a little creativity, so I bought a resin hare off Ebay that was missing one ear ... but I won her for £1.40!

Here she is with cardboard cut to shape and stuck in the hole where the original ear was.

I used white tissue paper and PVA glue with Water and completely covered her with little strips glued all over. Then I got a patterned paper napkin and cut the shapes out. I glued these on quite randomly. I wanted some of the original colour to show through as I liked the textures and colour.

Finally I painted in the eyes, dry brushed over some of the white areas to bring out the texture a little and then some gloss varnish to finish off. I might add a little tree pendant around her neck to finish her off 😊. I love her!

Paper strips and Napkin shapes

Back View

Lovely patterns

Front View

Finished Hare with Napkin

Painted Eyes

A little paint to define nose

In her new home

Stairs - What a Mission!

Stairs Before

The lady before us started to renovate the stairs and get it back to the original wood. After trying to improve a little on the parts she had done this began a huge mission. The wood had been varnished and also stained a really dark colour. No amount of varnish stripper would take this out (I tried) and so I resorted to the sander. Dust everywhere and even this didn't shift it. It's certainly better than it was and a clear coat of satin varnish finished it off but what a mission. It is nowhere near perfect but much better than it was. I re-painted the white struts a light grey (twice) as this looks really nice and lightens up the place and as much as I wanted to sand down the stairs I gave it a light sanding, got out the paintbrush and gloss painted them. The colour is a bit of a bluish grey in the sun, next time round I will paint it a bit darker. Maybe one day I will tackle it again but I certainly won't be doing this in a hurry.

Stairs Before, still some dark stain

Stairs Before

Sanding begins

Struts painted a light grey

Finished stairway varnished & painted

Whoops, missed a bit!