Pretty in Pink Antique Dresser Makeover

I have a crush on antique highboys.  Seriously, I’m drawn to them; they like suck me in and say “buy me, buyyyyyy me”..  So when I stumbled upon this one recently at Changing Thymes, it wanted to go home with me.  It’s not that I wanted it, I needed it.

Changing Thymes on Wilson is one of the locations where I sell my paint and when I go in to stock my inventory, I usually go out the door with something else from another vendor.

 

I had about 20 minutes to get the first coat on so I busted into the jars and I started slapping it on.  I wanted variegated shades of pink with a weathered, white washed finish.  I haven’t done this before so I wasn’t quite sure how to do it so I do what I always do, I just went for it.

Base Coat

I used Debi’s Design Diary DIY Paint for this project.  DIY Paint is clay based which makes it ultra durable and the colors blend so easily, it’s almost magical.  I poured a couple colors in one tray and three more in the other and started dipping from one to the other.

I didn’t think about it, I just started slopping it on in no particular way but I had to work quickly because I only had a few minutes to apply the base coat.

This paint dries fast and I wanted to blend the colors so I kept spritzing it as painted.  See that blob of thick paint spillage on the left-hand side of the drawer?  I’m sure I scraped that off before I put it in tht garage then I left all the drawers partially out so the edges could dry.

I’m using multiple colors all at once but this is just one coat.  DIY Paint is highly pigmented and covers incredibly well.  I planned to do a wash over this anyway so I didn’t fuss at all.  You can’t mess this paint up; it’s way too forgiving.  As the paint dries, it will get lighter.

So the next day, I had to work really fast too.  I only had about 20 minutes between the girl’s tennis match and their band concert or orchestra concert.  I can’t remember which one; they had both last week.  It’s that time of year ya know!

Building off the base coat from the night before, I used the same five paint colors and feathered them wherever I felt it needed it.  No rhyme, no reason ~ I just did it.  This is how the dresser looked when the paint dried.  Clear Wax deepens the paint color so I knew if I sealed it with Clear, it would be too bright and vibrant for most people’s taste and because I already have so many whimsical pieces in my booth right now, I thought it best to tone it down.  I have admit though, I love the colors in this!  If I was a kid again…

This is the dresser before wax

I tried to do a Live Facebook video of the waxing process but it wouldn’t record for me when I had it in the tripod.  I get so frustrated when things like that don’t work.  Why can’t they just work?

Applying the Wax

I applied both Clear Wax and White Wax simultaneously dipping it into the White and then the Clear and then the White…  I did that to cut the White Wax a little bit.  What I mean by that is I wanted to make the White Wax a little translucent to show the cool colors underneath.

What’s weird about using both waxes is, it makes it hard to tell how it’s going to end up when you first apply the wax.  It looked almost grayish and had a purple cast to it.

I was thinking, what have I done but I had faith and as soon as the wax started to dry, I knew I was going to love it.That night, I got a wild hair to take pictures of it at the beach.  I snagged Anastasia for assistance.  OH MY GOSH, IT WAS SO COLD and the wind was howling!!  I think it was only 35 degrees.  Anything for a Kodak moment.  Poor Anastasia got so cold, she took off for Alabama, lol.

We also had my cousin Mary Jane on the phone with us.  She’s a professional photographer down in Orlando.  I was feeding her pictures and she’d tell me.  Crouch “down a little bit” or “tuck that in behind that…”  It was so much fun.  The beach is my happy place even when it’s cold.

Hey girlfriend, can you angle it more towards the sun?

We were laughing so hard, I’m surprised we didn’t have an accident.  The people walking to the peer looked at us like we had fallen off the deep end but we didn’t care, we were on a mission.

I couldn’t see squat in the sunlight.  They need to invent a phone with a viewfinder for us old people.

So here she is in all her glory

I just love how she turned out!

I love that Big Red is in the background.  This is one of my favorite beaches and a hop, skip and a jump away from Not So Shabby, 2975 West Shore Drive, Holland, MI  49424.  Just dropped her off to the store where she’s now for sale.

Yep, I likey ~ do you?

Want to replicate this finish?  You can!

Here’s everything I used to transform this piece.

Paint Recipe:

Marquee

Kissing Booth

Queen Bee

Summer Crush

Cowboy Coral

Clear Wax

White Wax

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*** as of the date of this post,

We have Golden Ticket in stock, just sayin’ ***

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If you’d like to replicate this finish, all the products I used on this piece can be purchased here in West Michigan, see locations below.  We also ship all over the United States and several other countries.  Click www.shizzle-design.com to visit our Online Shizzle Shop and I personally will pack it up and ship it to your door.

 

Thanks so much for hanging out with me!

a hui hou kau kou!

 

Shelly