Lamp Black Dresser With Sheet Music
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This tall antique oak dresser was in the bunch of solid wood pieces that I bought that were suffering from cat urine odor.
Aside from the strong odor, it was in great shape! It was very sturdy and just needed to be cleaned with Nature's Miracle Advanced Stain & Odor Remover.
I wiped the piece down completely - top to bottom, inside and out, drawers and all!
I thought the shape of this piece would lend itself well to a sheet music decoupage treatment. I've done several pieces with sheet music and it's one of my favorite looks to create.
Because of the existing dark red stain on the dresser, I opted to paint the body in black. I would need to prime it if I wanted to use a shade of white to prevent that stain from bleeding through.
My black paint of choice was General Finishes Lamp Black Milk Paint.
Because of the high-hide property of this paint, I didn't have to prime the dresser before painting it. I did prep clean it though. To see my process, watch this quick video.
I applied two coats of Lamp Black, allowing at least 2-4 hours in between coats of paint. While each coat was drying, I decoupaged the fronts of the drawers using sheet music from a 1970's hymnal. My decoupage medium of choice was good 'ol Mod Podge in a matte finish.
To see a tutorial of this process, visit my blog post from a previous sheet music project. I give you step-by-step directions to recreate this look!
To seal the dresser, I applied two coats of General Finishes High Performance Topcoat in Flat.
While GF Milk Paint is durable enough to stand up to low-medium use, I thought that the top of a dresser would need extra protection. Plus, black paint shows scratches and smudges more so than other colors, so I wanted to add as much protection as possible!
What's so neat about using General Finishes Milk Paint is that it still preserves the wood grain and texture of the piece while giving you amazing coverage. Look at this close-up shot of the lower left corner of the dresser. You can still see the oak grain and the spots where the original oil finish had gatored over time!
Marc helped me move the dresser upstairs a few days ago and I was finally able to photograph it this morning before I needed to get to Homestead Studios for the day.
The sheet music isn't perfectly lined up from one drawer to the next, and I kind of like that. I wasn't going for perfection on this piece. After all, it's not perfect. It's re-loved!
The Lamp Black Milk Paint ties in the words and notes on the sheet music perfectly.
Speaking of the sheet music, I hand-picked every song on the dresser. I actually hummed a few while I was working!
I picked these glass and gold knobs for my hardware. I thought they added a sense of age and elegance at the same time.
The lines on this dresser are fabulous. The top two drawers have a bow to them and the front two legs are slender and slightly curved.
The drawers also have lovely dovetail joints.
This dresser will be hanging out at my home until space opens up at Homestead Studios. If you're interested in this piece, you can send me an email and I can give you the price and dimensions. Until then, it's going to hang out with me for a bit longer.
Oh darn ;-)
