{Before & After}–and giveaway winner announced

Phewww – im so glad christmas is over!!  It came and went so quick this year.  I didn’t even finish decorating until christmas eve!  Sorry no pics this year, just didn’t make it in time.

I have also been a big slacker on posting lately, I have been so busy at the shop.  We have tons of house projects planned, and cant wait to get those started – we will be starting one tomorrow and it should be finished up by the weekend – cant wait to start it…finish it…and show it!!  My new years res is to get back to my house, its been so neglected this year!!

Anyways, heres a cute little dresser that I finished last week.  Sadly I didn’t get a true before pic. It was white and had been painted a lot over its time.  My client wanted a distressed black finish, so all the paint layers had to be stripped, otherwise I would have just sanded the paint smooth and painted over that.  But I don’t like to see white under black (when its distressed), so all the old paint had to go.

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We used Jasco brand stripper and it worked really well.  We did have to do it in layers though since there was so many old paints.  It took some time and a little bit of elbow grease, but it wasn’t too bad.  Luckily my underpaid helper did all the hard work for me!!  (that would be my husband Santi)  Just brush on the stripper, let it bubble up and then scrape it off – super easy.  On the round parts, just use some steel wool to rub off the old paint. 

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After it was all stripped, it was sanded smooth and then ready for paint.

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After it was painted, I did a rub thru distressing on this dresser.  Basically you dip some 0000 steel wool in denatured alcohol, squeeze it out, rub it on the furniture where you want the wood to show through and then immediately wipe it off with a wet towel.  Christa from Stories of a House has an awesome video tutorial that shows you exactly how its done. 

After all was painted and distressed I used Wood Classics poly from Sherwin Williams that I love – definitely my new favorite!!  It goes on so smooth and gives a good hard finish. 

And the after…

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the 411:

Color – tricorn black by Sherwin Williams in a gloss

Poly – Wood Classics by Sherwin Williams in a satin

Top – Early American stain by Minwax

Knobs – Hobby Lobby

Video Tutorial on distressing from Christa – must watch it to see this technique in action!!!  I get tons of emails on this type of distressing so this should help!!  Thanks Christa ;)

***And the giveaway winner is Ohio Farm Girl!!!  I will forward your info to Christa so you can get your free ebook.  For everyone else, remember you can download your copy here***