The Saga of Sam: Part One
This is a dresser that was rescued from a dark corner of the basement. I thought that this would be an easy furniture upcycle that would be given new life with a coat of antique white paint and maybe some dark wax or dark glaze and a little distressing to let that dark stain show through. Instead, this dresser got the best of me several times over before "Sam" and I finally agreed on what his makeover would look like.
The dresser had definitely seen better days. There was an abundance of unknown goop and guck stuck to almost every surface, a really damaged corner on the top of the dresser, a broken drawer, and Joe's autograph hidden inside.
The most interesting part of this dresser's past life, however, is this little carved portrait of "Sam" on the top of the dresser.
Remember Sam. He becomes pretty important later on in this upcycle.
This first thing I did was use some Minwax wood filler (affiliate link) and filled in the screw holes and the worst of the scratches and gouges. The large chunk missing from the front of the dresser was filled by placing rigid foam tape on the front edge of the dresser and then using wood filler to fill in the space between the dresser top and the foam tape, creating a new, crisp edge to sand down.
I used a 200 grit sandpaper to sand down most of the top, drawers, and legs to buff out any other imperfections or surface scratches. I also sanded down the carved face of "Sam" so he wouldn't show up when I started painting.
Goodbye, Sam.
Once everything was prepped and ready to paint, I mixed up a batch of my homemade chalk paint (which you can find out how to make here), and laid down my first coat of white paint. This was my first mistake. I should have read more about painting with chalk paint on dark or stained pieces. It didn't take very long to notice that something, or rather someone, was going to be a bit of a problem.
It didn't matter how many coats I put on top of Sam, something about the previous finish was staining the porous chalk paint and Sam just would not go away. The problem wasn't limited to Sam's portrait either; everything that I had sanded before painting was staining and tinting my chalk paint a range of yellows and browns that were splotchy and ugly. It seems by sanding and roughing up the previous finish, the stains/paints were bleeding through everywhere and thoroughly ruining my vision for a white dresser.
It was at this point that I started reading more about chalk paint's 'no prep' reputation. It seems I was fooled into thinking it was a universal rule, and that pieces like this dresser should have been painted with shellac first to prevent something like this from happening. Unfortunately I didn't have any on hand, and had moved some things around to give me the opportunity to refinish this dresser, so I decided to power on and see what else I could do.
With my plan out the window, it was time to learn by trial and error. I buffed and lightly distressed the paint that I had already applied while I thought of a way to salvage this project. I decided to try a Mod Podge technique with napkins that looks really excellent when distressed. I thought that by covering up the stains with glue and paper, it would take care of the problem.
I had some of these eco friendly party napkins that I picked up from my local party store that has a soft, antique white background and looked perfect for the job. I mixed together some DIY Mod Podge (which you can find out how to make here) and brushed it across the top of the dresser with a foam brush before laying the napkins down on top.
Since my napkins weren't a geometric patterns and didn't line up, I staggered them to create more of a natural, random pattern. I did however keep the napkins in the same orientation even as they were staggered and flipped so that all the lilies were vertical.
After going upstairs to prepare some lunch and leaving my project to dry, I came back downstairs expecting to find my dresser ready to distress and then seal. Unfortunately...
Ugh, Sam! Not only did my decoupage idea fail to cover up Sam, it actually created a new problem...
I know it will be hard to see in this photo, but everywhere my napkins were went turned yellow. The ink used to print on the napkins bled and my soft antique white napkins were now looking distinctly parchment coloured. My dreams of a white dresser were now completely shattered and I have to go back to the drawing board.
