Numbered Dresser-my new fave!!!

Hi everyone! Well, as you can tell...I survived the Barn Sale! So, yay to that! It was a lot of work and super stressful, but I am so glad I did it. My family came in from Atlanta to help, and I am forever grateful because I never would have been able to do it without them.

So, I was working on pieces even after the barn sale started! I just had to get this dresser done because I had a VISION and if I didn't get it done in time to take with me, I would have been ticked off at myself.

This was the last piece I finished and it just so happened to be the FIRST piece to sell! It wasn't situated more than 15 minutes before a really nice couple came straight to it. We had a little bit of a haggle, but that's part of the fun and they ended up taking it home. I know their four boys will give it plenty of...ahem, love. Sometimes I am really happy I go for the distressed look. ;)

So, here is the before:

As you can see, it was pretty ho-hum....nothing to write home about. When I saw it at a local thrift store, though, I knew I could finally dive into a more industrial and..."boy" look....yes, laugh at me. Much of my stuff is on the girly side, I will admit it! I needed to expand my horizons and this HEAVY chunk of dresser was gonna help me do it!

I cracked open my brand new can of CeCe Caldwell's Beckley Coal, which I was dying to use and went to work. It took 1 coat and some touch up spots to get complete coverage on this....awesome. I then taped off the left side using my trusty Frog Tape (the yellow one!) and even more useful, I used small strips as "spacers" between each line. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of that process, but maybe I will mock it up so y'all can see what I mean. I thought briefly about making another stripe to even them out but really liked the look of a single stripe. Now, for the stripe, I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White...yep, I mix and match there isn't an ounce of purist in me. Finally, I took my handy little 4 inch number stencils, sprayed them with adhesive (lightly!) and got to setting them to paint. This was a little bit of a pain because I am more than a little bit of a perfectionist, but they worked out. So for the numbers I went with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Emperor's Silk....don't you just love that brilliant red?

Once it was all dry, and really...I finished this in just a matter of hours. (They just so happened to be in the middle of the night!) I started distressing with a sanding block and a wet cloth at that point. I got pretty liberal with it, which trust me, I know it can be scary-but just GO for it! You can always repaint...but take a step back, walk away or something. When you come back and look again, you just might be surprised at how much you like it.

Well...then came my absolute favorite part...waxing! If you didn't hear it, there was sarcasm literally dripping from that sentence! Watch your step. I was a rebel and once again mixed brands, CeCe Caldwell Clear Wax and ASCP Dark Wax. Once I buffed the clear wax, I layered on just a tad more then worked the dark wax in. This darkened everything, including the Beckley Coal which is an unsettling dark gray at first. The clear wax deepens it, but that dark wax made it BLACK. Nice.

Well, here is the after (L-O-V-E!):

Ooh, I almost forgot to tell you about the hardware! My dad and I picked faucet style pulls up at our local Hobby Lobby (50% off!!!) and at first I wanted all white...but they were short two. Then I thought, ok...red. They were short four. So, then I had the "duh, Claudia" moment and decided to mix and match...see the theme with me? I think they REALLY make the piece. My dad claims credit...I'll give him half...ok, 70% of the credit. Love that man!

So there you have it, ladies and gents...the story of how my numbered dresser came to be. It was finally finished at about 0400 and I got about an hour of sleep before I had to be back up and at it! Totally worth it, though...I think I will keep on this numbered trend, I might be a little late but I dig it! Love to all, Claudia

Linking up to The Brambleberry Cottage "Time Travel Thursday"!