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Practice Piece

When it comes to painted furniture, one of my favorite blogs is qisforquandie.com. I saw this dresser on a recent post and was intrigued by the technique.

First of all, it is a beautiful piece, and the finish is perfect for her setting.  She even divulged her "secret" method for achieving this look.  So, of course, I had to try it.  She recommended a practice piece to get the hang of the technique.

I had just picked up this three drawer nightstand at a thrift shop.  It is a very heavy, well made piece and, because I love drawers in a nightstand, I could not pass it up.  This became my "experiment."

I started with the drawers thinking if any thing went really wrong I would only have to redo one drawer.

I sprayed with the black satin spray paint...easy enough!


Next step was applying the wax and wiping it off.  Not too bad.  It seemed to be working the way it was supposed to work.

Getting the right amount of wax onto the larger surfaces was a little trickier. I think I will try brushing the wax on next time and then wiping it off.

  The finish on the top was peeling badly so I knew I would have to sand it.

This edge had some deep gouges that needed to be filled.


Before I painted the base, I took care of the sanding and the repairs.

I used three different colors of stain on the top.  The last color I used was ebony in an attempt to tie it closer to the base.  I am not satisfied yet and may have to play around with the top a bit more.


Next to the black, and in bright light, the original finish looks very orange.  Although it's almost Halloween, this is not what I was hoping for.


In an attempt to remedy the orange glow, I darkened my wax with black stain.  Although the first coat of wax had dried overnight, this layer of wax removed more of the paint.  Big OOPS!

You may be wondering about the hardware.  My intention was to replace it, but nothing I tried was doing anything to help this piece.  So I sprayed the original hardware black and left it....for now.

I have faith that I can still redeem myself with this piece.  It is just going to take a little more trial and a little less error.

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