Though ASCP can be used without sanding, I take a few minutes with a fine-grit sanding sponge to lightly sand dresser and the drawer fronts ... to prep the surface and to check for any imperfections that may need a bit of attention.
I tape the edges between the areas I'm going to paint and the places that don't get paint. (Sloppy paint lines are a big pet peeve of mine.)
For this dresser, I used my two newest ASCP colors: Paris Grey and Aubusson Blue.
The harlequin design for the sides of the dresser was pretty easy to lay out (graph paper was really handy for this) and it didn't take as long as I thought it would to tape it off and paint it.
Step One: tape, tape, tape.
Step Two: Paint.
Step Three: Remove the tape.
Step Four: When the paint is dry, I used 220 grit sandpaper to carefully distress and blend the harlequins.
I didn't realize that I sanded it THIS much.
The distressing revealed some of the original stain of this dresser, and it had a bit of a red cast against the grey and blue of the new paint ... so I went with it and added 'Primer Red' accents. (the green strip is tape, to prevent me from getting red paint on the side of the dresser ... I'm not a very tidy painter.)
(I know Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is an English product, and that "Primer" is probably pronounced "primmer", with a short "i" sound ... but the American voice in my head pronounces is "prImer", with a long "i".)
I've kept you in suspense long enough ... thank you for being patient ... without further ado, allow me to present the finished product ...
The Yankee Doodle Dresser.
This dresser was worth all the effort, because it is a really well-made piece of furniture. Look at those dovetails.
The body of the dresser is finished with clear wax (I use Johnson's, because I like the mellowness of the slight amber color), followed by Annie Sloan dark wax for some instant patina.
The original colonial pulls would have done nothing for the dresser in its new skin, so I installed new satin black bin pulls.
It's unusual for me to distress a piece this heavily. While I was doing it, I was telling myself a story with a fictional history of each scrape and scuff.
The red top is accented with a light rub of Valspar antiquing glaze and finished with two coats of Minwax oil-based polyurethane for durability.
Here's a really huge coincidence ... Janet of The Empty Nest (and my trusty source for all my Annie Sloan paints) has been working on a similar dresser this week, too. Neither of us compared notes on what we were doing to our dressers. I sent her a photo of my dresser when I finished it the other night, and she quickly replied with a photo of HER dresser. To prove that she and I may truly be sisters separated at birth, she and I INDEPENDENTLY produced dressers that are eerily similar to each other. (cue the creepy Twilight Zone music). Hers is paler than mine, but the motifs and the design are almost as if we were reading each other's minds. Janet's dresser is posted HERE ... go take a look, you will be amazed.
My dresser is now in my booth at the Minuteman Mini Mall, along with a couple of other pieces that I will share with you later. It feels great to get some more big pieces finished and out of my stash of unfinished 'treasures'.
