This piece was in sad shape, I usually pass on previously painted pieces, especially ones not dine well, because you never know what you are going to get underneath there. This one was given to me by a customer abd the shape and details were right up my alley, so I brought it home as a teaching piece
At first assessment, it was missing hardware, had some veneer damage that was obvious under the paint, the drawers stuck, and the paint was thick and full of brush strokes in the latex. Because of the missing veneer, restoring it to wood was not an option. I decided to embrace the existing texture and really play up that feature!
It would need a lot of prep. I cleaned, sanded allll the drawer edges and the frame so the drawers wouldn’t stick, and sanded any areas where paintvwas chipping or peeling, then got to work stripping the top to bare wood with chemical stripper (Green Eze stripper). The final finish will only be as good as what is underneath, that is especially important with previously painted pieces.
The first step in building up my new finish was to lay on a layer of texture using Salt wash texture additive mixed with Wise owl paint in earth, a rich brown. I scraped it on using a bowl scraper in a random fashion until I had a uniform coverage
The new desert sunset collection of colors from Wise owl had just come out, these are usually colors that are out of my wheelhouse, but I decided to let fate intervene abd give them a shot, was sure glad I did! My base is using thunderstruck, ivory, and native clay
This next step brought the colors to life, I cleaned up the blend on my base cost and dry Brushed fireside, red rock, and native clay over top, it created this soft glow over all the colors
To bring out all of those details and maje the texture pop, I added some Wise owl glaze in black, just a thin layer and it made the coolers even more rich
I finally got thise legs stripped to bare wood using Green Eze stripper and a wire brush, then added minwax jacobean stain to my wood surfaces. I sealed everything in wise owl matte varnish, added touched of Gold decor wax, then some hardware from my stash
The final result far exceeds my expectations. Using colors I might not have chosen on my own was freeing and even though I got timid at points, had to trust the process and push through. This piece has a soft warm glow that ferks like a cup of coffee on a fall day.
Catch the full tutorial and materials list on my YouTube channel Here
