Extra Extra! Lovely Beasts takes on the French Dresser!

It's done! It's done! I've given the most popular French dresser in blogdom a new look.


It's completely different for me, but that's my aim with furniture projects these days. Try something different and make it unique. Some of you will notice that it's MMS inspired and you've probably seen a combo of what I've done out there before but hey, it's new for me!

Here's the dresser that everyone has bought at some point and either redone, or in the process of redoing. Drenched in yellow and gold paint and unfortunately for my guy, a laminate top. Yes, I know laminate is easier to clean, but to me it takes away from the dresser's natural beauty.

And here's how it looked last week. Read here for more details on the paint colors I chose. Some of you might remember that I was keeping the redo of the top a mystery. So did any of you figure it out? Well, it's too late if you didn't because I'm showing you NOW!

TA DAAAAA! Mod Podge + New Zealand Herald newspaper from October 1895 = Fantasticamazingawesomeness! 

This was my very first Mod Podge project and it went surprisingly well. First I cut rectangular sections of the newspaper to fit on the dresser top. I purposely put some horizontal and others vertical. My plan was to use an exacto knife to cut around the newspaper after I had glued it on. With a foam brush, I applied the Mod Podge in small sections and pressed the newspaper on top. I used my old college ID to get the bubbles and wrinkles out. About 8 hours later (at this point the glue was totally dry), I used the exacto knife to cut the edges. It wasn't going that smoothly at first.

See how rough and uneven it looks? I finally developed a method of holding the knife blade at a 45 degree angle and smoothing the blade along the edges to slowly cut off the excess newspaper. It takes patience to do it, but I got in the zone and actually enjoyed it after awhile. Once the edges were flush with the edge of the dresser top, I brushed on another layer of Mod Podge over the newspaper. It was a little tacky when it dried (the Mod Podge bottle said this would happen!) and I was going to go buy sealer (also bottle recommended), but then I thought about my Wipe On Poly and thought that it might achieve the same results. Funnily enough I checked MMS sheet music dresser for some hints and saw that she used the Wipe On Poly too. Wow! I can't exactly say that we think alike, but I can say that I'm starting to think like a professional furniture refurbisher!

So after a layer of Wipe On Poly, the dresser was complete! In case you're wondering, the only issue with the whole Mod Podge process was that the newspaper was naturally wrinkled and I couldn't smooth it out without it tearing. So there are a few small wrinkles on the dresser top, but it adds to the dresser's character. At least it does for me! And I know some of you are cringing that I used the antique newspaper, but it had some damage in the corners that made it unreadable. Now someone can read it and appreciate it everyday! That's the way I'm justifying it anyway!

So I proudly present to you the Lovely Beasts version of the French Dresser. Let's call him "The French Kiwi"! New Zealand newspaper...Kiwi...riiight.

I'm really happy with the white and grey. Never get tired of seeing it. And although a nice white or grey top would be pretty, I wanted something really different, so the newspaper was a perfect choice for me. Just a note, I took these pictures right after the layer of Wipe On Poly so it's not as shiny as it seems (and the newspaper discolorations are more subtle).

And my favorite section of the newspaper. Beautiful building in the Smith and Caughey's Spring & Summer Show ad and the hilarious Ayer's Hair Vigor.

Hope you all like it! I know it's not everyone's thing...but that's what makes it mine! :)

Love,

Emily

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Sneak peek at tomorrow's dresser reveal

I know I know, I'm taking forever on the French dresser. But tomorrow it'll be all done! I can't wait to post the after pictures and link up to some parties.

Until then, here's some a sneak peek at one of the glazed drawers with handle. I painted them in Sherwin Williams Uncertain Grey and glazed it with Minwax Dark Walnut stain. I didn't do anything to the brass handles except  clean them. They already had the distressed look I was going for (I think they were previously all white).

And to give you a hint on what I did to the top, I've talked about it in one of my last 5 posts. Have you guessed it yet???

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Weekend Finds: Little craft storage table and vintage lovelies

Sorry there were no posts this weekend. We were busy entertaining the little one and then my husband and I both came down with the stomach flu at 5pm last night. We've never been sick at the same time, but let me just say it is HORRIBLE. We were miserable and nauseous all night. Thankfully, we had family and friends helping us take care of Annie. And the best news is that Annie has not come down with the stomach flu. Cross your fingers that she's able to evade its evil vomity clutches!!!

Lucky for you all, I'm feeling much better tonight. There's still a lingering headache, but I'm at least able to function and write this post! On Friday I stopped by an estate sale that just happened to be at a house across the street from the park I bring Annie to. I swear I was not planning on doing any shopping, but of course I found a few things I had to bring home with me. The guy who was running the sale was really great. He has a resale store down the street full of furniture and bikes, and when I told him my husband builds bikes, he said he'd be interested in doing some bartering. Free bike parts if my husband builds a fixed gear bike for him! Sweet! So I returned again on Saturday with my husband and I bought a gift for a friend that I had been eying the day before.

The first day, I spied this little rolling table and knew it would work great as a craft storage unit. It's in need of a new paint job, but it's got these great wheels and a shelf inside. I'm thinking of adding a little cushion on top and have it also serve as a stool. The vintage newspaper on top is a October 1895 edition of the New Zealand Herald. It has some great ads inside and I promise to share pictures of those in another post.

And these are the vintage photographs I bought for a friend. She collects photos and I thought these would be a nice addition.

Look at the women's hair and the old man's facial hair. They're all so serious! And I don't know about you, but I have a hard time looking away from this woman wearing a bowtie and dressed in men's style clothes

A little creepy and a little cool right? Here's the other picture I bought. Amazing front porch and look at those clothes. I know everyone says it, but it is really sad that we don't dress up like this anymore.

And here's a close-up of the kids. The little girl on the left is so cute! And I'm really into the headband and jacket the teenage girl standing in the middle has on. 

Hopefully my friend loves these as much as I do!

Featured and progress on the French dresser

I'm pretty sure I lost yesterday's post due to blogger issues and I don't remember exactly what I wrote, so instead here's a small recap!

My "Blue Boy" chair was featured on the DIY Show Off. Hooray! I had hoped one day to have my furniture grace the pages (or posts) of Roeshel's blog, and was so excited when she emailed me on Wednesday informing me that my chair would be featured. What a wonderful surprise! Please take a look if you get a chance!

Thanks to all of the readers and followers out there! You inspire me to no end. And if you're visiting Lovely Beasts for the first time, I would love it if you became a follower! I want to be your follower too! I really want to have a 100th follower giveaway, so please give me an excuse to go out and buy cool things!

Some of you may know I've been working on the most most popular French dresser in blogdom. Everyone's redone this bad boy before! Here's what it looked like when I bought it.

And here's where I'm at right now. As you can tell, the colors are MMS inspired. Behr's Creamy White Interior Semi-gloss for the dresser and Sherwin Williams'  Uncertain Grey for the drawers. The grey is tinted with the tiniest bit of green, but it looks blue to me!

 

I'm working on distressing it ever so slightly and finishing up with some glaze and wax. It should be done by tomorrow, but the top of the dresser is going to take a bit more time. I need to buy "something" for it, but can't seem to find the perfect "thing." Sorry for all the mystery, but I just don't want to tell you what will be on top until it's completely done!

And just for fun, here's a picture I wanted to share of how I made sure to keep the drawer handles and screws in order. When I was unscrewing them, I happen to see an egg carton in the recycling bin next to me and found that it was the perfect way to separate the pieces. I don't know why, but I thought they looked cute in there so I had to take a picture to share with you all.

Quirky house means great finds!

I forgot to show you all of my weekend finds! I went to an estate sale in Houston at a house that reminded me of the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. It was a crazy old Victorian-style mansion in the middle of a normal looking neighborhood. The guy running the sale told me the owner suffered from severe manic depression and just kept building and building. The back addition to the house was never finished, it was just bare bones wood. There was a really nice staircase made of iron and wood back there, but they really had nowhere to go! I wish I had thought to take pictures of the inside of the place, but you know how it is when you get excited about an estate sale. All common sense flies out the window (or front door in this case). I did however take screenshots of the house off of Google maps streetview. Look at this amazing quirky home.

Love the ivy, turrets, and all the little windows! And look at the roof deck smack in the middle. Crazy isn't it? In the house itself, they were selling wonderful antique furniture, beautiful English China, old medical and history books, just about everything you can imagine. The owner was definitely a collector! Unfortunately, there were no deals to be had at this sale. I guess they're going to hold several estate sales over the next few months so there were no discounts this weekend, but I shall be returning in June and I will DEFINITELY take pictures to share with you all. Now on to the items I bought!

A 60's anatomy lab workbook. Look at the cool, sort of creepy, anatomy pictures in side. With handwritten notes and all!

A beautiful wood headboard with a little copper detail on each end.

And for me, I bought these 70's beige and black patent shoes. They have ribbon instead of laces to tie them up. So cute!

I can't wait to wear them. They just might go perfectly with the vintage dress I bought a few weeks ago. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend full of equally great finds!

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