I'm Stripping!

My bossy friend Amanda (anyone noticing a theme here?) told me I have too many dark wood pieces in my house and need to add some color. Between us girls I am a little scared of using bold colors. I usually tend towards safe colors like rust red and browns with some muted greens. I realize that these are not the current "cool kid" colors, but they are what I like. But...I guess there CAN be too much of a good thing and have decided it won't kill me to heed Bossy Amanda's advice.

Dresser pre Ambush Makeover

I chose my victim. An innocent dresser from Bombay Company that really didn't have a problem with it's current shade of mahogany. Poor thing. It didn't know it was about to get a makeover. Like it or not. Sorry, dresser, Bossy Amanda said so. (Amanda is really not all that bossy, I just like to tease her. If you ask her, she'll say I'm the bossy one!)

I consulted my new best friends at Pinterest, for some inspiration. I found a lovely little piece from Design Sponge that was just the color I wanted to try:

So pretty! And BRIGHT. Gulp. 

I liked that it was a bright and happy color, but not crazy. And I thought it would play nicely off of the red curtains in the adjoining living room because red and green are friends on the color wheel. (I am quite impressed with myself as I totally just sounded like I work at HGTV.)

I have painted a number of pieces, but this one was gonna need some stripping and staining to achieve the look I wanted. Since I don't do a lot of stripping,  I called my friend E. She's great at stripping and does it all the time. Tee Hee. She's great at stripping FURNITURE, that is (dirty minds think alike)! Anywho, E has single handedly redone all of her cabinet doors, several furniture pieces and is currently doing all of her dining room chairs, so she had zero extra time to teach me how to do it. But, she made time for me. That's the kind of girl she is. 

My favorite stripper. :)

E directed me to what products to get and even gave me a mini-tutorial on how to get the stain off. I started out with Stripeze, but honestly, it kind of sucks for this project. Bombay Company apparently uses some sort of industrial strength staining process and poor ole Stripeze just didn't stand a chance. After consulting E and Dr. Google I changed to Citristrip and it is the BOMB.COM. I found it at Home Depot for about $20.00. That and a metal scraper thingy. Gotta have one of those. 

Hermitage Green, Sherwin Williams

I found the stain color I wanted at Sherwin Williams. Hermitage Green. It looked JUST LIKE the one I loved from Pinterest. How often does that happen? Never if you are me. I bought a quart of it and a quart of oil based poly. It ran me about $30, but since a new dresser costs way more than that, I didn't think thirty bones was so bad.

Stripping, Stripping, Stripping!

The stripping took FOR-FREAKING-EVER (okay 2 days, but that's a long time when you have the patience of a 3 year old), but the little dresser was finally ready to be the new Jan Brady. Minus the afro, of course.

E suggested using an old sock to apply the stain. She said old socks aren't linty and give a smooth, even application. I have plenty of lone socks because my boys like to leave them outside, throw them under the couch, etc. Never in the hamper. Never. EVER. I bothers me. It bothers Jan Brady, too.

The stain went on pretty easily, but it was not quite the color I had wanted. A little too hunter green and not enough yellow like the example. I thought I might try to add a little yellow or really bright green oil paint into a little of the oil stain and try it on an inconspicuous place on the back of the piece to create a layered effect (there's that HGTV talk again). I mixed the oil paint and oil stains to create a more saturated green, applied it all over the piece, then strategically stripped it off in spots to create an antiqued look. I got impatient and decided to skip the poly coat. Instead, I rubbed the piece with Tung Oil to create a protective layer. I will return the poly and put the funds towards my next victim, er, project.

My crafty mom donated these great glass knobs-Thanks, Mom! 

It's not an exact replica of the inspiration piece, but who wants to be a total copy cat? 

Happy now, Bossy Amanda? I turned into a stripper for you.

Sugar-coated verdict on the project is that I love the result and it didn't cost me more than about $50 and a few days. Truthful verdict is that stripping is hard work and not for the impatient. Props to E for stripping so often and so well.  She must get really tired...

D to the CB-