This is one of the pieces I finished yesterday…
Yes. I painted it that way on purpose. That’s not the before. I’ve learned that some people get it and some people don’t! I’ve been really inspired lately by pieces that are heavily worn, distressed and chippy, so I decided to take the distressing on this piece to the extreme. And the result is one of my favorite pieces that I’ve done in a while.
Here’s how it started…
I did take process pictures, so I’ll share a tutorial, but as a quick rundown, I painted it in a base coat of MMSMP Grain Sack followed by the Wax Puck and Hemp Oil to act as resists. I then applied a coat of a custom mixed color – equal parts Shutter Gray and Trophy. After a heavy distressing, I finished it with Furniture Wax and a little bit of Antiquing Wax.
The combination of techniques created a really cool, aged finish.
I love the side panels.
I got the ceramic knobs from Hobby Lobby.
The top was stripped and finished in Hemp Oil. I decided to leave it natural.
I love using my pretty boots for staging. These ones were my Christmas boots (made by Timberland.)
I had a huge shopping trip today AND the men folk (Jeff and Dad) picked up a trailer load of furniture for me. Lots of work to do and lots of things to show off!
Stay tuned…
58 Responses
Love the paint finish but I feel like the knobs are the wrong scale for this chunky piece. Would like to see something a little beefier.
I agree with this comment.
I agree with John agreeing with Gin!
I agree with chunkier knobs… but oh the magic of paint! LOVE it.
Love it. The side panels do make it, especially the top panel right corner. Love when stuff like that happens. Looks very natural!
hi Marian, it looks great. I’m not usually a fan of the heavily distressed pieces but this is beautiful and you’ve achieved a very authentic look. Love it, good luck for your Lucketts preparation
Fiona x
Love this! I’m on the hunt for a dresser this scale to make a coffee station in the sitting area off my kitchen. Yes I take coffee that seriously :).
I must be one of those people because I LOVE this. It’s just gorgeous. Whoever scoops this up is a very lucky person, indeed!!
This one is seriously distressed and beat up looking…BUT in the most perfect way! Ha! The “perfectly imperfect” look.
Great work! It seems like quite a lot of steps were necessary to achieve this awesome look. I particularly like how you chose to keep the top a solid stain.
Well done!
I think it looks perfect:)!
I love it Marian! I so hope I make it to Lucketts this year.
The natural top is lovely, mix of new knobs and distressed look are a great pairing. Those boots are fabulous as well!
I prefer lightly distressed…but this piece will look awesome in someone’s home!
I have the exact same boots!! Luv them…..
Hi Marion, I’m not sure if you read new replays from old posts but I hope you do. This piece is amazingly awesome. Did you leave the side panels with just the grainsack? The inner panels.
It’s beautiful! The natural top grounds the piece so the heavy distressing doesn’t make it too busy. It has such a wonderful custom look though. Perfect 🙂
I “get it” and I love it! Any piece I finish like this sells immediately. I love a beautifully stained piece of furniture too but I will always head to the heavily distressed pieces first.
Love it. Love the boots, too. Bought them this winter after your post!
LOVE the side panel detailing 🙂
I just want to close my eyes and run my hands over it..I’ll bet it feels as good as it looks!
it came out perfect! i love for some of my pieces to have a heavy patina. otherwise all of my work looks like i painted it all. you know what i mean?
Might be my fave so far too❤️❤️❤️
Marian, everything you do turns out beautiful.
I love it!! We have several dressers that are in the before state just like yours. This is very inspirational – future projects! I love your blog and all your work, thanks for sharing. I have a question. Do you think this would work as lovely with the color red? Just something I have in mind for one of my dressers. I really love what you have done with yours.
Beautiful, Marion! I totally get it and love that look! 🙂
I like the dresser, but I LOVE the boots. Where can I get a pair?
Timberland
Love love love!
I see what they mean about the small knobs, but I like the contrast of the “almost feminine” knobs with this worn, distressed ~ GORGEOUS piece!!! I’ve been a follower for awhile, but this is one of my all-time faves, too: you keep outdoing yourself, Marian!
Oh! My! Wish I could come to Lucketts with a trailer!
I like it that you left the old tight grain oak top unpainted. You can’t oak like that now. It’s all been cut down. You certainly improved the sides of that piece. And I look forward to a detailed tutorial on the finish!
You’re right about that! My brothers and dad work at sawmills and did you know that it toes walnut 7 yrs. just to dry after it’s been cut and before you can use it? It takes so so many yrs. to grow those trees and we’re running out.
I adore this dresser! the finish is lovely!!!!!! Inspiration for my old media cabinet that I need to redo- using as my china cabinet !!
So you left the side panels in the Grain Sack?… I adore it!!!
Where are the knobs and boots from? Love them both.
i bought an entertainment center dressed like that 2 yrs. ago…..grew very tired of it ….fast! i am now going to redo the whole thing and go for a totally different route. i live in ca. That look is dated now…..is it because of different areas?
Well, I think it depends more on the piece. This is a small dresser, so it can be used in a space without overwhelming it. An entertainment center can take over the room! Plus, this dresser is an old piece…1800’s, so it makes sense to have it distressed as that could’ve happened naturally.
GREAT job!! GREAT boots !!! 🙂
I get it 100%! Perfect in every way! The knobs are fantastic, too! LOVE it! I have the same boots, also! 😀 Oh, and I sold my FIRST piece today…a LARGE shelf found in a detached garage that was going to be taken to a landfill. I spotted it going in the dumpster and screamed out the window to my neighbor that I wanted it. He told me I was crazy. I just smiled as my husband and I carried it home.
It’s a big piece measuring 49″ wide and 41″ tall and 5 1/2″ deep. I used a custom color of your grain sack and kitchen scale, distressed it, and sealed it with your hemp oil. The woman who bought it loved it so much that instead of paying me $125 she gave me $160! I was dumbfounded. I can’t wait to begin another piece. 😀 Thank you for providing such an amazing paint.
Love it!!!!
Love the Primative look…you nailed it.
Do you do all hand sanding or do you use an electric sander to get the deeper dimension?
Love, love, love it!!
This is fantastic, Marian! I’m going to have to try it! It’s just beautiful.
I love it! See what happens when you listen to your gut. My dad and brothers have worked at sawmills for so many yrs. that when I roll them that I was thinking of painting my furniture, they said, “Well I like the pretty wood.” They’re in Va and I’m in NJ, but I’m going to show this to them the next time I see them. The natural top shows the pretty grain. My dad is a master wood grader at his job.
Can you help me? My only eating area is 7ft. 3″x 11 ft. And I have this huge dark hutch with a lot of ivory ceramic knobs like yours. Should I do this look or just a more neutral white or gray to blend with my neutral white walls…which I haven’t even painted them either yet? I don’t want the hutch to be so heavy and over bearing in the room, and I also want to show off the white knobs. That’s why I’m not so sure about white or cream.
Thank you MMS! Love you!!
~Priscilla
It balances out when you have pretty shiny floors, a pretty dresser top and all the other pretties in the room. I can’t wait to get started on my projects!
I’m probably one of those people who don’t “get it” and I hope my question doesn’t sound rude. How do you tell the difference between an intentionally distressed piece and just a really bad paint job (or distressing trying to hide a bad paint job? I’ve seen some painted furniture (live and on blogs) where I thought “Yeck, looks my 5yo painted it.” Years ago, a guy at an antique store (who was kind of a huckster) tried to sell me a piece of furniture at a high price, emphasizing its “distressed” patina over and over. I passed, but its become a joke in our family whenever we see over-priced beat up furniture for sale. I really hope I didn’t offend you – inquiring minds want to know!
Ha, no. I’m not offended at all! I think it’s totally a personal taste issue. I love pieces that are chippy, distressed and old. To me, they look loved, used and worth keeping even though they are imperfect. I would look at some mid-century modern piece by a well-known designer that might make other people crazy and would think, “Yeck. Who would want a doughnut-shaped piece of plastic for a chair?” We just like what we like. 🙂
As far as how to tell the difference…I do think there is just some poorly painted pieces of furniture out there, but that usually shows in drips, streaks, brush strokes, finish doesn’t feel nice, unpainted areas that were obviously just missed, etc. The difference to me is the artistry of the piece and how authentic it looks.
Gorgeous, it has a time worn farmhouse feel to it. I love the rustic look.
Lee 🙂
Your more distressed pieces are always my favorites. Love it!
Love this! My mother had this exact same dresser and it is still in my father’s house. Gave me inspiration to do something with it in the future.
I “get it”, and I absolutely love it. Thank you for going through your process, I’d really like to try and recreate that!
Love your furniture makeovers! They are always my favorite posts!! Even though this piece is more distressed than I prefer pieces to be in my home – I can definitely see it working in the right context. I really enjoy hearing how you did it and get inspired even when the piece “isn’t me”. Looking forward to more of your Luckett’s makeovers!!
Loooove this dresser, the way you’ve worked it! Great, great, gorgeous!!!!
Love it! It’s a beautiful piece.
I love the dresser, and the boots are way cool too!
Ohhhh… it’s yummy. The side panels are my favorite part too. Just adds that finishing touch that gives the dresser so much personality.
Cindy
I think the pairing of a heavily distressed piece of furniture works well when the other pieces are of finer quality. You have the nice oil painting and ironstone, and ive seen pieces in the other parts of the room. If everything is heavily distressed, it lends no importance to the new distressed piece. Its the juxtaposition of the pieces and their furniture which makes a room interesting.
Marion, do you find that hemp oil and wax resist differently?
I’ve created some of my own wonderfully chippy finishes, but an effective, varied resist method has been elusive. am still experimenting with resist results.
Oh – and of course, this piece is gorgeous!
I love this piece!!! Its just my style! My question is I have 2 pieces (dressers) they were built in the 1950’s and r like a mustard color. I cant decide whether to paint them or leave them. What do u think?