Sunny Days Dresser – Leah Noell Design Co

Anyone who has painted a piece of furniture can tell you that it doesn’t always go as planned. This one was no exception. I picked this little birdseye maple gem up at an antique store I frequent. It was in great condition. I like to buy furniture that is in good condition because I want my customer to have the best quality pieces out there with an artisan finish.

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Material List:

Ya’ll know how this starts…first you must throughly clean your piece. I mean you have to get all the dirt, grime, and years of furniture polish off it. It’s not as hard as it sounds. I like to clean my piece once over with White Lightning and rinse it well. If you’ve never prepped furniture before, you can read more about it here.

Next, I primed my piece. Primer is an optional step, but if you’ve read any of my blogs you know it is a preference of mine. It prevents problems that can occur down the road such as bleed through (an oily substance that comes through your paint. Usually caused by tannins in your wood). I gave this piece 2 coats of clear BOSS primer.

Okay, now the prep work is done and we are ready to paint! Wahoo! I knew I wanted this piece to be yellow! I decided to use a blend of Colonel Mustard and Buttercream. This paint blends beautifully. Have you ever blended paint before? If you haven’t you can catch a video here on how to blend 2 paint colors together on furniture. Here’s a process photo of blending the second go round. I just added a little more of the Aged Ivory and lightened the middle. I like to use a brush for each color and a clean dry one to blend them together and soften the lines.

Next up: The Transfer. My original plan was to use the Royal Burgundy Transfer which is a blend of maroons, reds, and pinks. But just as I was going to apply it, Re-design with Prima sent me this gorgeous Cosmic Roses transfer! I just joined their team as a designer for their product launches so I have no idea what they are going to send me until I have it. When I saw this transfer I knew it was meant for this sunny yellow chest of joy!

I carefully cut out the middle section. I choose not to use any of the gold lettering in my design. I wanted this to come around the side subtly so you could still see the sunny yellow and ivory blend. Once the transfer was applied, I burnished it with a Finishing Pad. This helps push the transfer into the paint and also takes off any loose pieces. For balance I added the Winter Blooms mould around the leg of the piece. I used moulding material to create the cast. When adding moulds on curved surfaces, you have to apply them with E6000 glue while they are still wet. Here’s a picture of how I applied them to dry and form over night. If you are looking for more detailed instructions on how to apply moulds to curved surfaces you can read about it here.

I hand painted the moulds once they were dry with In The Navy paint. I added gilding waxes in Green Patina and Warm Gold to really bring out the texture and details in the mould. (I’ll share close ups at the bottom of this post.) Right now, I want to point out a last minute design decision I made. When I first started, I had added a WoodUbend runner to the bottom of this piece. When I stepped back and looked at it, it felt too heavy on the bottom. I decided to scrape it off. It wasn’t something I was excited about doing, but the final design just didn’t hold it well. It only took me about 20 minutes to scrape it off and sand it back. Then I just repainted the bottom, Super easy! I love these runners from WoodUbend, but don’t you agree that it just wasn’t right here? I like being able to change my mind. I’m sure that has come across clearly in this post. LOL.

For the final step, I finished this Sunny Days dresser with Clear Top Coat in Satin. I gave it 2 coats, letting it dry in-between. I applied one coat of Gator Hide to the top for extra durability. Gator Hide is heat and water resistant so I like to apply it to just the tops of my pieces where they will get the most wear. As for the mirror…I added it to my collection of dresser mirrors. I don’t love painting them so I usually remove them. Good news! This dresser is available! You can view the sale listing here.