Hi everyone! I’m Denise from Denise… on a whim.
My most important job is being mom to two little cuties! I’m also a graphic designer at my real job, the Treasurer for the Kent County Youth Fair at my volunteer job, and painter/blogger/sometime-creative-genius at my most fun job, On a Whim. My boyfriend, Eric, and I love creating fun upcycled projects and refinishing furniture. We’ve been taking our unique pieces to crafts shows for a little over a year now and recently rented a permanent space in a new store here in Michigan.
I am so excited to be guest posting at the wonderful Alderberry Hill today!
This is my very first guest post, so I certainly hope you enjoy our project.
I think I picked a beauty to share with you!
My friend Karlye texted me a few weeks ago and asked if I would redo a dresser.
Of course, I said yes!
But then she came over with this gorgeous antique beauty.
Wow was about all I could think!
How lucky was I to get to work on this?!?
For this piece, I wanted to do something just a little masculine.
The chest of drawers, without the mirror attached, just seemed to call for it.
And the piece was originally going to be a surprise gift for Karlye’s Dad.
So masculine certainly seemed to fit the bill.
She and I both knew we wanted to stain some of it.
The wood itself was a little too gorgeous to cover up!
But, since it was such a wonderful piece, I also wanted to give it a little umph!
Something more than just stain.
I immediately though of ASCP Coco.
I love it when used with dark aging wax.
So I sanded down the trim on all four sides in order to restain those areas.
This piece also had peeling and warped veneer on the top that I decided to take off. I could tell the wood underneath the veneer would look great with some dark stain. So I set to work.
Thankfully, it came off fairly easily.
Sometimes that’s a super difficult job and absolutely no fun at all!
Here’s the chest sanded and restained.
I did not sand the inset areas or the drawer fronts, as I knew I would be using chalk paint there anyway.
Here’s a picture of the Coco on those insets.
No wax yet…
And same with the drawers. Just paint, no wax…
This is a close up of the drawer with distressing and wax.
Love that it has the keyhole too! 
The side with distressing and wax…
I chose Minwax stain in Jacobean because it’s really pretty dark and I wanted dark for this piece.
Once I had the body done, I got out the mirror.
I sanded the base for that and restained it.
Then I painted the mirror frame in Coco.
I’m loving how it turned out!
Somewhere along the line, Karlye’s Dad found out about the project and he told Karlye that she could keep the Chest of Drawers.
Lucky girl!
Once I found that out, I knew I wanted to do something a little feminine with the drawer knobs.
I decided to make a trip to Hobby Lobby to look at their awesome selection of knobs and pulls.
I saw these and knew they would be perfect.
The white gives the piece just a little pop of color and yet coordinates so nicely with the Coco and dark stain.
And the dark chocolate swirls are just the perfect feminine touch for this piece!
I also bought this little birdie candleholder when I was there.
It’s so delicate and my favorite color.
I just couldn’t resist!
I think this piece turned out just how I had envisioned…
masculine with a soft side.
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this great chest of drawers today.
I’ve certainly enjoyed sharing it with Alderberry Hill! Thank you so much, Sarah, for giving me the opportunity to share with your readers!
I would love it if you drop by Denise… on a whim to say hello and see some of our other projects and to connect with me via bloglovin’, facebook, google+, pinterest, hometalk or instagram!
Thanks for guest posting Denise, this piece is beautiful!
