Lagoon and Gold Leaf Dresser

I found this dresser on craigslist. I know I should have never bought it, because it was in very bad shape and wasn’t worth a dollar. BUT I had a vision and wanted to give it a try. I’m so mad at my self that I didn’t take a picture of it after I picked it up. It was falling apart and the varnish was chipping everywhere. As usual I was too eager to start my project and forgot about the pictures. Darn it! I really have to learn to take more pictures.

This is a photo of the dresser after my father-in-law helped me strip, take it apart and reglue the entire dresser. Lots and lots of elbow grease.

I was lucky that all the original hardware was in good shape and we even found a key that worked for the locks.

I knew right away that I wanted to go with a navy blue and gold or a turquoise/blueish-green and gold. After browsing the spray can aisles at Lowes, Home Depot and ACE, I finally ended up with the Rustoleum Lagoon in satin. I love spray paint. It just gives it a much nicer finish than brushing or rolling the paint on.

Of course I (again) forgot to take pictures in between steps…So sorry!

I started with the staining of the top of the dresser. I used the red mahogany stain that I had leftover from my desk makeover. Before staining wipe the piece of furniture with a tack cloth to remove all the dust and dirt.
Let the stain dry. The last step for the dresser top was to apply two coats of polyurethane. I used Minwax Clear Semi-Gloss. In between coats you can lightly sand the surface with a very fine grid sandpaper. Don’t forget the tack cloth wiping!

Well, after letting the poly dry for what seams an eternity, I taped of the top of the dresser, the wood appliques and the rollers on the bottom of the feet.  The appliques were a major pain in “the you know what” and I could have just spray painted over them too before putting on the gold leaf. But I figured the wood tone was better just in case there were areas where the gold didn’t cover right. And in the end, I was glad that I did it that way.
Now it was finally time to get to work on some color!

Before starting with the spraying I had to prime the dresser. I used a grey-tinted cover stain by Zinsser.
They tinted it for me at Home Depot. Again, use a tack cloth to wipe everything clean before priming.

After the primer dried, I lightly sanded the paint to get out the brush marks and any other raised areas. Before starting with the spraying I wiped the dresser down with the tack cloth again. So important, don’t forget this step! I can’t say that enough.
While spraying a piece of furniture, I always wear a respirator. You get so dizzy if you don’t. I can’t imagine what possesses people to huff that stuff. Seriously, this is toxic… But anyway, where was I…

I gave the dresser several coats of the lagoon spray paint and then removed all the taped areas….ta-daaaaa, here it is and looking good.

What’s that? Do you see a glaze? Well yes, I guess I jump some steps and really wanted to see what the dresser would look like with an antique glaze before taking off the tape. Just in case I didn’t like it. But I did! I ended up using the glaze after applying the gold too. You can mix your own glazes but I was lazy and used Lowes Valspar Antiquing Glaze. Just brush it on and lightly wipe it off, so the glaze stays in the indented areas.

Now comes the part where I used my entire vocabulary (German and English) of bad words while working. And I’m sorry if any of my neighbors took their kids for a walk past my garage without ear muffs during this process. The gold leafing!!!! It wasn’t quite sticking the way I wanted it to and I ended up using some liquid leaf too. For the gold leaf, I used a Mona Lisa gold leaf kit. The product isn’t all that good. It worked but for my next leafing project, I will try something else. I followed the instructions on the package on how to apply the glue before leafing.
After I was done with all the appliques. I applied another all-over coat of antiquing glaze, putting special attention to the golden areas. The glaze really made a difference to make the appliques look old and match the dresser hardware.

When Everything was dry and wiped, I applied two coats of polycrylic in semi-gloss to the painted areas. I didn’t want to use polyurethane because it yellows over time.

The last step was to put all the hardware back on the dresser.
And voila…here it is and I ? it very much.
The color shows up different in every picture and the photos don’t due it justice at all.
I have to retake some pictures on a sunny day! But I just couldn’t wait anymore for better weather. All the following pictures are in bad lighting. Such a bummer.
I’m planning on moving it into my bedroom soon and then I’ll take some more pictures, ok?

Oh I forgot to mention that I lined the drawers with black and gold wrapping paper, which was worth a whole arsenal of bad words again. I decoupaged the paper onto the drawers and it is very difficult to not get any bubbles, tears, and rips.

Guten Tag fellow webbers and thanks for stopping by!