Blue Bird Dresser

This week I finished up a gorgeous antique dresser. I seriously contemplated doing a version of MMS's music sheet dresser with this one. I initially even bought it because it had the perfect shape to do that dresser! 

But when I brought it home and really got to looking at it, it just was in too good of shape to cover with music sheets. So I got inspired from many hand-painted designs on Pinterest, specifically a yellow one with the same design. Yellow would be adorable, but I had been itchin' to use some newly purchased Provence.  

Straight out of the can is a little bright, and I wasn't sure at this point if I wanted to use dark wax (I usually decide how something will look during the whole process. I rarely know exactly what I will do ahead of time). So, I painted the first coat just pure Provence, then the second coat a custom mixture of Provence, Old White and a bit of Duck Egg. The branch and birds design was drawn-- free-hand with chalk, then painted just plain Old White. I loved doing it. It was so fast and fun! Much more free than the strict guidelines of a Union Jack design, like I've done in blue, gray, and traditional colors.  Then I distressed it lightly in some areas to reveal the deeper color of Provence, and all the way down to the wood on the edges.

Lastly, I clear waxed it all over, and added jewelry (clear glass knobs).

I love the texture and character this one has with the subtle color variations shown through distressing!

This one also comes with a mirror. At one time there were arms that attached down to the back of the dresser, but they were broken off, and I had to repair the wood on the side of the mirror before painting it. It can be easily propped up on the back of the dresser like I did below, or hung on the wall behind. 

Tomorrow I will finally reveal the huge fixer-upper dresser that I've been waiting to take pictures of because I need to finish retro-fitting the knobs! It's definitely not as feminine as this one, but looks amazing, especially compared to the before! ha!