Equestrian Dresser #stainpaintedfurnitureart
A couple of months ago, I was a vendor at the Wild Winds Festival, a couple of hours north of where I live. While there, I met so many nice people and one particular lady had seen my small table that I had done an image of two horses. We had a discussion and I showed her the dresser I had done for my step-daughter with a large horse on the front of it.
She said she would be in contact, hoping I could do something similar for her.
We began an email conversation and she and her husband brought their dresser to me. It is a wormy chestnut dresser that was quite heavy and old. The graining on the dresser was pretty heavy and I was worried about it interfering with the image; however, I really didn't want to paint the piece (even though Lisa gave me the go ahead to do whatever I thought best). While they were dropping the chest off we looked through some images and she and her husband quickly agreed on one to use. {THAT was easy! -- it usually takes me hours and hours of research to decide on an image}
This piece was incredibly heavy! My husband (the other half of M&M) and I had to use a dolly to get it inside to work on. The piece had already been stripped and sanded, but I was pretty concerned about those marks that were left behind from the old hardware. If we decided to change out the hardware, I was concerned that would show through without painting it.
But I came up with another idea!
We decided on a grey stain for the entire piece and then I would whitewash a stain onto the drawer fronts.
So after some prep work - cleaning and using a pre-stain on it, I got to work. I put a couple of coats of MinWax Classic Gray stain on the entire piece.
And then started on the MinWax White Stain (Pickling Stain) for the drawer fronts. This wasn't the easiest product to use, but it did turn out pretty much the the way I had envisioned. Maybe I was hoping for a little more grain to show through the white. Since it didn't have that effect, I probably could have done a white wash with paint that may have been a little easier AND would have been better for my stained image later on. (note to self for future pieces).
Lisa was happy with the color and appearance of the whitewashed and grey stains and gave the approval on this as the backdrop for the stained image. Now, to get it on it's back to work on it was a feat in itself! But we managed without too much difficulty!
So, now the fun began! I take a million pictures of this process while I am working on it. I like to take pictures and download onto my computer and look at it from a distance. When you are right on top of it working the stain, it's hard to see areas that need improvement. But I will spare you ALL of the pictures and just show the highlights.
At this point, I was really unhappy with the side of the horse -he looked too fat. So, I had to do some touch ups - stained over some of the area and re-did his side.
It was finally time to stand him up and finish out the detailing.
I had to wait a few days to let the stain cure and applied 3 coats of Polyvine Flat for protection.
We decided on some simple hardware for this piece.
And now the fun pictures - I wasn't about to take this beast downstairs for the staging, so right before Lisa came to pick it up, I took it outside and took some out in the natural light. May as well take advantage of our beautiful Autumn leaves here in Northwestern PA!
This one was a challenge, but I'm very proud of the way it turned out. And more importantly, Lisa is thrilled! I have to admit, I was sad to see this one go!
If you have any interest in custom pieces, I can work with you on something you already own and give it new life or I can find a piece for you. I specialize in doing this staining technique on furniture, but have also done stained art on old cabinet doors and other wood for wall hangings. This is not something that can be done on canvas, though.
Hope you enjoyed!!!
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