On the Chevron Bandwagon

I should be packing and getting ready for our trip to Florida tomorrow, but instead I spent the day trying to finish a project and get one more blog post done before we leave. I guess packing can wait a little longer. We're going on a much needed vacation to the Miami area and staying at one of our favorite hotel/resorts while we're there. One thing I hadn't considered before was how having my 'work' in my garage and always near me can take a toll on my personal life. I love doing what I do and I love blogging about it, but I rarely take a break and that's something I'm learning to do. I'm a person who loves to get things done, so having projects half way or even near done drives me crazy until they're done. I've always been this way! Even as a kid I always wanted to be the first person done....I just had to get things done asap. I'm learning that I'm only one person and I do not have to kill myself getting things done. It's OK if something takes an extra day, it won't make a difference in the long run, right? At any rate, I'm going to be taking the next week off from blogging. This will be my last post for a week or so. I feel wrong doing this considering I've only been blogging since January, but I need to focus on my family, relaxing and recharging my batteries.

Now back to this project I've been working on for a bit. A few weeks ago the same lady I bought my Green Dresser from was selling some more great things that I had to have. One item she was selling was a dresser that I wasn't really convinced I wanted to buy. There were a few items I did want and since she is great enough to deliver the pieces for me I decided to go ahead and buy it. I knew I would figure out something to do with it.

I've been seeing so much chevron print all over other blogs and Pinterest. I'd been wanting to attempt something like this myself, but hadn't found the right piece to do it on. The more I looked at this newest dresser the more I realized a chevron type pattern would look great.

Here's the dresser before.

I couldn't stand that hardware. I didn't see the point of putting square knobs on a square piece. That was one thing that needed to be changed. Then there was the top, I wanted to stain it to give it some character. The entire piece had these gouges and marks all over it. I think they were intentional back when it was made. It's pretty old, I believe the dresser is from the 50's. You can see the paint was discolored and was in need of some help.

First thing I did was strip the top. I wasn't thrilled when I saw the wood underneath. It wasn't gorgeous to say the least, but I thought it would look great with some stain and wax. So I kept with the original plan (remember I always follow my gut now!) and moved on to the rest of the dresser.

I painted the body and the drawers in Annie Sloan's Old White.

Then came the HARD, I mean REALLY hard part!. The chevron stripes. OK, I have to point out here that I'm not great in math or geometry. I had found a tutorial on Pinterest that I thought would help me with the taping, but I read it and re-read it and I didn't feel any smarter. So, I did what any smart and humble woman would do.....I called in my Hubby. He and I are VERY different. He's very logical, mathematical and methodical. So he walked me through what to do, step by step. He had to correct me many times, but slowly it got done. He wasn't the slow part....I was. I really couldn't do a tutorial on how to recreate these chevron stripes because I have no clue how to do it. So much so that I had to phone him at work this morning and ask him to help me because I changed my mind on something! I sent him a picture of what I was talking about then he walked me through it. He is a saint and I'm lucky he's strong where I'm weak :-)

See, there's my computer on top of the dresser.....it didnt' help me one bit!

We got the stripes on and then I realized I didn't do the bottom of the lower drawer, thus the panicked phone call to the Hubby at work this morning!

I decided to use some Provence I had left over from another project. I love this color! This is after I took the tape off.

Now what you don't see are any progress pictures of staining the top. I started with Dark Walnut from Minwax on the top, but the color wasn't soaking into the wood like I wanted. So I put 2 coats of Kona by Rustoleum to get the color. For some reason the top never got as dark as I wanted, but I was happy with the end result. I put on a coat of dark wax and the top was done.

The drawers I decided I wanted distressed. I didn't like how crisp the lines were. I wanted them to look a bit aged so I took some sandpaper to them and went to town. I topped it all off with a coat of clear Annie Sloan wax. Then to finish it off, I put on some new hardware. I couldn't use that square hardware on it again. The old hardware is cool, but I didn't think it suited the look I was going for. So I used some hardware I had purchased for another project. It was nice to have it on hand and not have to run to Home Depot!!

Here it is all finished!!

I didn't want to put a whole bunch of stripes on the dresser, I wanted it to be simple and I like how it turned out.

Here you can see how I distressed the dresser to give it that age and character. I really love how it looks now!

Now, I'm sorry but the top looks WAY better stained than it did painted. I don't know why, but I love to have the top stained. I feel like it makes the piece a bit more unique. I could save a ton of time and even money, by just painting the entire thing, but to me it just doesn't feel right!

I like all the nicks and character on the top.

I'm glad to have this one done! I think I will leave the chevron stripes for all the mathematicians out there. If I ever do stripes again, I will do some easy vertical or horizontal stripes....those are more my speed! When I was painting this on July 4th, Hunter asked me who I was painting it for and I answered, "I don't know who, but not us." He was sad because every time I finish a piece he asks if we can keep it. He gets attached to them just like I do....such a sweetie :-) This one does need to find a new home....the search begins.

Please let me know what you think. Have you tried chevron stripes? Do you have a trick to making them dummy proof for people like me?? If so, please do share!! I love your comments.

Enjoy your week!!