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Friday, August 6, 2021

Greek Glam Makeover

 I was recently shopping for a new sofa at a local furniture store. Have you been to a furniture store lately? All those pretty wood pieces! Until you get close and they aren't really wood! If I'm going to pay a lot of money for a piece I want it to be real wood.

Thankfully, there are plenty of old, solid wood pieces to be found at yard sales, thrift stores, & estate sales. They might not be in the best shape, but with a little effort, they can be beautiful.

I recently acquired this piece.. solid wood & heavy!

I gave it a good cleaning with Dixie Belle's White Lightening. After using the White Lightening, I came back and wiped it down with just water to make sure no White Lightening residue was left behind.
I typically paint furniture, but for this piece I decided I wanted to stain it with No Pain Gel Stain. This stain is the consistency of pudding & goes on easily with no drips or mess.
It is oil based, so I wore gloves. I applied it with a lint free rag that I just dipped into the stain, and wiped on.
I chose the stain color, Espresso, not only because I love the dark, rich color, but also to help hide this dark stain on the top of the table.
There were a lot of water marks & other stains on the top of the table, but no need to sand... the dark color easily covered them.

I wanted more than just a stained piece of furniture, so I used the Greek Key stencil from Dixie Belle to add a fun touch to the front of the drawers.
Rather than use paint with the stencil, I used Dixie Belle's Gilding Wax. The metallic copper gave the table the perfect amount of glam that I wanted.
I applied the gilding wax over the stencil with a makeup sponge & then applied more of the wax to the detail around the drawers.
I added new knobs that have a touch of copper.


From grungy to glamorous...
Hmmm... where di that dark stain on top go?
This piece will live on much longer than those non wood pieces at the furniture store!


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7 comments:

  1. I love how the stencil completely transformed this piece, Virginia! Like you I can't bring myself to buy the overpriced garbage they sell nowadays when I can buy well built solid wood second hand furniture for a fraction of the cost and give it a one-of-a-kind custom finish like your dresser.

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  2. Night and day, Viriginia! The dark stain with the copper touches really does give the piece a glamorous look. Beautiful job! All my best, Suzanne.

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  3. I absolutely love the way this turned out! Wow! I'm going to be refinishing a couple of pieces soon and this post will be so helpful. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Wow!What a gorgeous transformation, and I wholeheartedly agree, it will live long past its mdf and veneer crazy cousins. Beautiful!

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  5. I did this same exact pattern on a metal trunk It turned out gorgeous as did yours!!

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  6. WOW. I agree -- real wood is the best. This dresser has been more than transformed. Awesome. Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm. xo Kathleen

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  7. Oh my Word!!!! What an incredible transformation, Virginia. The gilded stencil takes it to a whole new level.

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