Frenchy Dresser Reveal

Hello, friends! 

I have been super busy working on the yard this week, but have no excuse not to post today since it is raining yet again... this blasted Utah weather! 

I am thrilled to share with you the final reveal of the french dresser I completed for my darling Sister in law, Willow.  I have to tell you, this project gave me a run for my money with several challenges I ran into.  I am so happy to be able to finally show a beautiful finished product.

As a reminder, or for those who are stopping by for the first time today, here is the before:

Unlike many of my furniture transformations, this one was already a cute "before".  It just wasn't the color my sister was going for, and the glaze job wasn't her style.  She felt it looked dirty.  Here, ladies and gentlemen (if any) is the after:

 As with many of my transformations, the top was stripped and re stained a deep color to match some of her existing Ethan Allen Wood furniture.  (this was the process that about killed me but through trial and error we ended with a beautiful finished product).  I will share the process after the pics.

Gorgeous stained wood top that shows several imperfections, adding to its charm and character

 I ever so lightly distressed the corners and high points to bring out some of the white hiding underneath and in places some of the natural wood.

  Full angle of the gorgeous stained wood top

 Crystal knobs purchased at Anthropologie (hey, some things are worth a splurge...)

My sister in law found these perfect antiqued pewter pulls HERE.  They absolutely make the piece (though they were a pain in my rear end to install)  You know I love you, Willow!  :)

 

I am thrilled with the way this piece turned out and can't wait to see it in Willow's master bedroom once her makeover is complete. 

Here's how I transformed this piece.

•  I lightly sanded down the dresser and drawers to get rid of all of the pieces of sawdust/ dirt that had been painted over.

  

• I stripped the poly, glaze and paint from the top slab of wood. I have found that stripper works best if you first sand your piece to get rid of the top protective coat.  Once I sanded it down, I applied a VERY THICK layer of Citristrip with a paint brush in the direction of the grain.

• After 12 hours of letting the stripper sit (I have found this to be the magic amount of time with this product), I scraped the layers of paint off with a stripping tool.  If the paint hasn't become tacky, it's not ready yet.  If it's been 12 hours and still isn't tacky, I have found that it needs more product.  Slab on another coat of stripper, wait 12 more hours and then try again.  It should not be labor intensive and should just pull right up.  Trust me on this one.  I spent about 5 hours stripping one leaf of my dining room table before I learned the trick. You can thank me later :)

• Once I had scraped off as much paint as I could get, I scrubbed the entire surface with mineral spirits, using an old scrub brush to clean off any residual stripper.

• Then, I took this baby outside and sanded off the rest of the paint residue with a coarse sand paper on my corner cat sander, followed by a very fine sand paper using an orbital sander to avoid the squiggly lines that can come from other sanders (per my fabulous reader's suggestions from another project).

I took very special care with the sander around the hand carved edges, which I discovered was cut out of a much softer wood, probably pine.

Once finished, I had uncovered this gorgeous wood.

• I used a toothbrush with mineral spirits again to try and scrub as much paint as I could out of the dings that were on top and too deep to sand off.
• Next, I applied wood conditioner using a clean cloth (leftover drop cloth from this chair) and followed it with a coat of minwax stain in Dark Walnut.

As you can see, it looked TERRIBLE! I wanted to cry.  Seriously.  I should have known it wouldn't have turned out well with the way all of these white little streaks popped up after the conditioner, but I thought the depth of the color would hide that. Also, you can see that there are tons of discolorations across the top.  The pine trim section soaked up that stain so strongly that it looked almost black after one coat. 

After throwing a few tantrums and seriously considering rolling paint right over the top of all that hard work, I emailed a few talented gals.  Sweet Marian, or Miss Mustard Seed herself responded to my plea for suggestions with a great idea to try and slather on a ton of stain, let it soak for a while, and see if it changed anything.  After all, nothing could hurt at this point.  I am so grateful to her for taking the time to reply to me and for offering such great insight.

•  I went ahead and did just that.  I ran to Home Depot and picked up another can of stain in Gunstock.  My hope was that something with a lot of red/ orange undertones would help those white streaks to appear more golden, rather than such a stark contrast against the dark walnut.  I would have never chosen this color on its own, but on top of the dark walnut, it worked miracles!

The discolorations were still evident, and it certainly didn't look like a perfect piece, but it was perfect enough for me!  Gunstock in a huge amount did the trick. :)

• Lastly for the top, I applied several coats of Minwax Polycrylic protective finish in Semi-gloss in hopes that adding a sheen would help to disguise the discolorations.  Normally, I prefer to finish wood stained tops with wax, but this was a unique situation. I sanded down lightly after each coat of poly with steel wool to get rid of any brush/ roller lines.

Alas, the top was finished!

The drawers and dresser were like a walk in the park compared to this blasted lovely top.

• I painted everything in "Seadrifter" by Kwal Howell, color matched by Behr with their Paint and Primer in One in a satin finish. 

• I lightly distressed the drawers and dresser, focusing on the corners and high points.  Then, I rubbed on a coat of Minwax Paste Finishing Wax with some clean drop cloth, and installed the new hardware. 

And there you have it,  the 1000 step process of how I achieved this look!  Fortunately, I have a beautiful finished piece to be proud of. 

 The moral of this story is, don't give up!  I can't tell you how many projects of mine I have wanted to just roll white paint over everything and start over.  Sometimes, you just need to keep trucking along and it really will all pull together in the end! 

Thanks for listening to my cheesy pep talk... it's really just a reminder to myself.

Pictures of the dresser in Willow's fabulous bedroom will be coming soon!  Stay Tuned....

XoXo

~PW

I'm sharing this transformation with these awesome parties.  Check them out!

Red Wine Slow Cooker Roast

How is  your week going?  I have been a busy girl this week.  My dancers had another competition this weekend (where they took 1st place in both dances and won overall high points on both numbers... ahem, thank you very much) and I have subbed several classes this week on top of my own.  I'm feeling a wee bit tired.  After tomorrow night's classes and our last competition this weekend, I will treat myself to a much needed REST.

Back to business... I would like to share with you a FABULOUS way to slow cook your Sunday roast.  Remember the delicious meal I told you about that we enjoyed for Easter?

Here's how to slow cook a fool-proof Roast.

Red Wine Slow Cooker Roast

Ingredients

2-3 lb roast (I used a top sirloin, but really any cut will work.  Even the toughest cuts become oh-so-tender when cooked slowly and long enough)

Salt, pepper and flour for rub

1-2 cups Red Wine (I used a Cabernet Sauvignon.  Any red wine works, but please get the real deal.  Cooking wine from the grocery store just isn't the same all packed full of sodium and lacking flavor)

1 Beef Bouillon cube

1 TBSP minced garlic

8 oz package sliced mushrooms

1 full onion, quartered

2 large handfuls baby carrots

Directions

Season roast with ample salt and pepper, and coat with flour.

Add dredged roast to a medium-high heated pan coated with EVOO, brown on all sides.

Transfer browned roast to a crock pot or other slow cooker, and turn heat to low.

In the same pan, add minced garlic, red wine, and beef bouillon cube.  Whisk until boiling, reduce heat to simmer and allow mixture to reduce (consistency will thicken up quite a bit).

While reduction is thickening, throw sliced mushrooms and quartered onion sections into the crock pot. 

 Slowly pour reduction over the roast.

Cover, and cook on low for approx 5-6 hours. (Your house should be smelling like a walk into heaven at this point). Add a few handfuls of baby carrots.  Red New Potatoes would also be fantastic to add at this point if you aren't already planning on making a side dish of mashed potatoes as I was.

Cover and continue to cook on low for approx 2-3 more hours or until the roast breaks apart easily with a fork.

To serve: Break up the roast into small chunks with a fork, garnish with onions, mushrooms and carrots on the side (for your pickier guests). Reserve all juices for your gravy.



Penny Wenny's Easy Peasy Gravy

Ingredients

Juices from slow cooked roast

starchy water from boiled potatoes (optional)

1 TBSP Kitchen Bouquet browning and seasoning sauce

1 beef bouillon cube

approx 1 cup flour water paste

approx 1 cup cold water

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Strain juices from roast into small pot.

Add starchy water that was strained from your mashing potatoes (if applicable) until you have the desired amount of liquid, approx 1-2 cups. If you don't have potato water, you can simply add hot water or canned beef broth. I don't like to make a huge batch of gravy, just enough to serve that meal.  Bring mixture to a boil.  Add beef bouillon cube for flavoring if necessary, and Kitchen Bouquet, which deepens your color and flavor.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour and water until smooth and clump free.

 Slowly add cold water (a few TBSP) into the gravy pot to cool down the temp before slowly pouring in some of the flour mixture while quickly whisking with the other hand, to avoid clumps. 

While whisking, bring gravy back to a boil to determine its thickness.  Continue to alternate between cold water and flour mixture until you have reached your desired consistency.  Season with salt and pepper.

I served this meal with some fabulous Rhodes rolls brushed with butter right out of the oven (homemade roll recipe to be shared one of these days... I promise)

mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and zucchini and some to-die-for strawberry shortcake that my momma shared with us for bezert dessert.  It was heavenly!

My only request when you make this fabulous Sunday meal- please invite me over.  :)

Have a beautiful rest of the week.  I am looking forward to some sunshine and heat tomorrow.  Garden boxes, here I come!

xoxo

~PW

I'm sharing this recipe with these fabulous parties.  Check them out!