Seashell Dresser

There is one room in the house that will always be a work in progress. That is my craft room. Right now the craft room is the little formal dining room right off of our entry. With French doors with windows this room has to look neat and tidy. So I'm going for the office look instead of a craft room look. 

I decided to use furniture to organize all my supplies. I wanted to use armoires all along one wall to hold the supplies. But after purchasing one armoire I realized that the armoires were too deep. So I decided to try 2 long dresser on either side of a hutch. Here is the first long dresser that I found. It was a total impulse buy and at $80 wasn't a good deal.

I got it home and hated it. The only good thing I could say about it is that the drawers all work. 

First thing I had to do was get rid of the little mermaid seashell on the front. 

I saw on Pinterest how someone filled the design in with wood filler. 

It worked great! I put the wood filler on it, let it dry overnight, sand it down and then put on another layer of the wood filler. After letting that dry, I sanded it nice and smooth and gave it a coat of primer. 

I had planned on staining the top of the dresser, but after stripping the varnish off the top the wood wasn't that nice so I decided to just paint it. I sanded the entire piece and then taped off the drawers so they wouldn't get sprayed.  The paint I used was from Home Depot, it was the Martha Stewart color - Lagoon in satin finish. I sprayed it with 2 good coats of paint and them let it dry real good. I distressed and beat it up real good. At this point I always vacuum it off really good in the garage and then move the piece inside. 

The next step is pretty stinky, so I try to do this with the windows open while no one else is home. But it is my favorite method of adding the antique look to a piece. 

I always put on rubber gloves for this step. I love the staining pad from ace hardware. The stain I use is Providential  by Minwax. You just dip the pad into the stain and then wipe it onto the surface of the furniture. 

Wipe on a liberal amount if stain and then let it sit for a few minutes. 

Then using an old t-shirt wipe off the stain. I try and leave some stain in the grooves and cracks of the wood, so that it looks like it was cleaned and the "dirt" stayed in the cracks. 

The wood that you distressed will soak in the stain and it won't come off when you wipe everything down with the t-shirt. 

Let it dry completely. At least overnight. And then wipe the entire piece down with Minwax wipe on poly, it will give it that old rubbed look. 

This is my favorite process for aging a piece of furniture after you have painted it. 

Here is the dresser all finished. I sprayed the handles with the Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze spray paint. I did the night stand the same way as the dresser. The knobs and handle on the nightstand were not sprayed in this photo.

I sold this set very quickly, I am still looking for a nice sturdy dresser for my craft room.