I had this poor dresser laying around in my workshop and it was in need of some major TLC. The drawers were in rough shape, the veneer was chipping off and it was pretty scratched up. If you have a piece in super rough shape like this one, you can absolutely bring it back to it’s natural glory, but be warned, it takes a lot of time, patience and elbow grease. This bad boy would have needed a lot of work. I would have had to scrape off the the veneer and most likely replace it. The drawers needed all new internal hardware top open and close smoothly, and the drawer faces needed to be sanded down to the bare wood – and sanding bow front drawers like this, are not fun. And it only had 4 out of 6 drawer pulls.

Sometimes, it’s just best to work with what you got. So I decided to give this serpentine dresser a boho, aged make over. My original idea was to layer yellow, pink, teal and finish it with navy. I wanted it to have an aged look like it had been passed down through generations and had been painted by many owners. I love pieces that look as though they have a thousand stories to tell.

Step one: One coat of 24k Yellow Gold and one coat of Antique Teal. I used my set of Martha Steward paint scrapers to apply the Antique Teal. This adds some texture to the surface and doesn’t give full coverage. I also sprayed it with water here and there so the yellow really had a chance to pop through. Whoa, messy.

Next step was a coat of a custom mixed pink, and a custom mixed navy with a touch of green.

I then started to sand away some of the paint layers using 22o grit sandpaper in some areas, and a wet sponge in others.

Then I gave it a coat of dark wax.

Right about now is when I realized this dresser was going to be a royal pain in my A$%. The colors were not layering like I had planned. It looked horrible. It went from Boho to BoNo. Now that I look at these pics, I think I even added a bit of blue. What was I thinking?!?!?

I decided I needed some more texture. So, I decided to bust out my Salt Wash. This stuff is an additive powder that gives a layered and textured effect. Check this stuff out, it’s pretty cool (when used properly!)

I mixed my Salt Wash with a hand mixed pink. It was supposed to be a raspberry pink, but it turned out a little more Pepto Bismol pink.

The trick with Salt Wash is to dab it on like the picture above, wait for it to get tacky, and then drag your brush over the surface to smooth out some of the heaps. I put WAAAAAAY too much on my piece!! Whoops

I gave it another coat of the navy with a green undertone, and it turned out so ugly I didn’t even take a picture of it.

This happens… pieces don’t always turn out the way I planned. It pisses me off sometimes, but I vented to my girlfriends and they said “Hang in there, you’ll get it right”. And they’re right. SO, I tucked this beast in the corner and let it sit for a few days while I pondered how on earth I was going to fix it. Not like I can just go back to square one and start over, this thing has well over 7 coats of paint on it and now it’s completely textured with Salt Wash that does not sand off easy.

I took my own advice, and decided to work with what I got.

Salt Wash is really meant to give a sun and sea soaked look, so I decided to go with just that. I gave the dresser a full coat of Whisper and sealed it with clear wax. I gave the top a water downed coat of Meadow which is a pretty soft yellow. And yea, that looked like crap.

Now, I have had it with this stupid thing. I gave it a full coat of Meadow. Waxed it. And a full coat of Whisper. I then lightly sanded it down so the piece is predominantly Whisper with pops of Meadows. This idea was not that bad, so I put my brushes away and sealed the whole piece with a bit of dark wax to age it.

Aaaaaand why not add a pretty Redesign by Prima Marketing Decor Transfer!?!??!

Here it is. All done in it’s non-boho shabby chic beautifulness.