For the love of an Equestrian Life {Part TWO}

Last week, I had finished my "telephone desk", which I had turned into an Equestrian bedside table, and I was ready to take on a chest of drawers to match. And here they are! (and my "show dog" Kendal)

Again, I used my now-favorite paint, Velvet Finishes!

I started with using Ready to prime the dresser. Ready is a product from Velvet Finishes that takes off the sheen from the furniture. VF is a no sand, no strip paint; however, it is always best to do SOME sort of prep. Ready prepares these paints for adhering to the wood. In this case, I also used some vinegar and water solution for cleaning because this particular item came from a smoker's home. I wanted to be sure it was CLEAN!

Then, I used two coats of VF Timeless, which is a really pleasant grey hue. I love this color and want to use it alone soon, but for this project I wanted to match the little bedside table....

So, I then applied two coats of Opulent (BTW, since I was just using the Timeless as an undercoat to show through when I distress, I probably could have gone with just one coat).

Then, a "smearing" of Minimalist and some distressing

Followed by VF Dark Glaze. As I had said in my last post, the piece wasn't getting as dark as I had wanted after the glazing. I spoke with Kellie and she informed me I am just taking too much off. Glazing is a little nerve-wracking for me, so it's just going to have to be more practice to get it right.

I decided to do a silhouette image on top and a close up on the front of the dresser.

I was going to add more details here, such as a cool looking shaded sky, but I knew the dresser would be full of a lot of teenage things, so I decided to stop here and move on to the front.

That eye had me so nervous.... I had to lay the dresser down on it's back to do this and just wasn't sure it was going to work out because of the eye falling between the drawers.

But when I stood it upright, it seemed ok. Not perfect, but pretty good considering the placement.

The top actually took much longer to do than the front due to the layering of the stain. It takes a long time for it to dry, and I actually ended up having to do a quick spray of polyacrylic to set the stain before I started on the process of layers of sealer.

I used General Finishes High Performance to seal the whole piece. Many, many layers with wet-sanding between the last 3 coats.

*Another note, VF Glaze should be enough protection on its own as long as you aren't putting wet glasses, etc on there. However, I had not used these before this project and since this is a teenager's dresser, just wasn't sure how much abuse it was going to get. Plus, I wanted to practice my finishing.

And here they are... I'm happy with the outcome, but more importantly, my step-daughter loves them!

I can't say enough about the Velvet Finishes paint. If you are looking to try something different than ASCP or any other type of chalk paint, this is one to try! It is a no-sand, no-strip paint with the best feeling finish (unlike chalk paint)! You can check them out here at Velvet Finishes

I hope you enjoyed these pieces, and I am actually looking forward to doing more horse/ equestrian pieces in the future!