Grey Wash - How To

I started painting cheaply acquired old wood furniture out of necessity more than anything.  Now it's a hobby.  When I was in middle school or so, I needed a table in my bedroom.  I can't remember what for, but it was probably that I needed a table to put my boom-box on.  Well, what I had was less of a boom box and more of an old AM/FM radio with crusty bits of mortar stuck to it.  But, it picked up the FM signal, and it was the only way for me to listen to loud music in my room at night, like any good teenager would.

Anyway, I wanted a table to put it on.  I'm sure I didn't even ask my parents to buy me a little table (I knew they wouldn't).  But, sitting in our garage, there was an old wooden chair that may have once lived in my grandparents' kitchen.  Its back support had broken off, and just one or two of the spindles was still attached to the seat.  I decided to remove the spindles and make a table out of it.  And then I painted it pink, Pepto pink.  Same as the walls.  I liked it.

That was my first memory of painting wood furniture.  It was born out of necessity then, and reborn out of perceived necessity again about 10 years ago...I wanted cool decor and furniture, but I didn't want to spend buckets of money doing so (and I never had buckets to spend either).  And, in the process, I discovered that I love, love, love searching for, buying, sanding, painting and sealing other people's old junk furniture =)  Finally, a hobby!  And a practical one that suits my practical nature to boot!

Recently, I bought a $40 dresser (to be shown in a later post) that was probably made in the 1960's.  Solid wood.  Dove tail joints on all of the drawers.  It had a couple of scratches and the drawers were lined with Raggedy Ann & Raggedy Andy contact papers.  I painted it lavender, then decided it was way too bright.  I decided to try a new technique, similar to white washing.  I grey washed over the lavender.  I loved it, and so did my daughter (6).  I wanted to sell the dresser and get some cash to spend on more junk treasures.  Miss Belle lobbied to make it hers. We had to make a deal:  if the dresser didn't sell by the end of the following weekend, it was hers.

No one bought it.  It only took one more entire week, but the Mr. and I hauled it up to Miss Belle's room.  She was delighted!  I wished I had a couple hundred bucks in my pocked instead, but it was great to see her excitement too.

That very night...I got a very enthusiastic buyer for the lavender grey-washed dresser.  Damn!  It was no small task getting that thing up all of the stairs.  And, I couldn't possibly disappoint Miss Belle.  I had to tell the interested party that it was gone.

Then I had a great idea!  I could take a chance and offer to find her another dresser and fix it up for her.  Surprisingly, she was totally into the idea!  She didn't want to buy a "new" piece, and she was willing to wait for the right dresser to come along and get all prettied up.  My first "custom" piece!!!

Hooray!  So, I drove out to Oakland and picked this baby up for a very, very small amount of money from a nice lady who was moving to the East Coast with her 3 year old son.

I fixed her up, and here she is...see below to find out what I did to achieve this aged look (inspired by Restoration Hardware).

I sanded took the sweet hardware off, sanded her down, and vacuumed her out.  Well, I vacuumed her out after removing the 127 thumb tacks I found sliding around inside after pulling the drawers out!  Score!

Then, I took a little bit of grey/gray paint (free oops paint samples) and mixed it with water.  It was close to 1/3 paint, 2/3 water.  But, honestly, I just added water until it seemed like I could spread it on and wipe it off without removing all of the color.  Then I painted the mixture on, let it sit for a minute or two and wiped it off with a cloth (diaper).  Then I decided that I liked how it looked when I wiped the dresser back and forth with the cloth I had used to wipe the diluted paint off with.  I did this, let the coat dry for a day, then did another coat or so until I liked the way it looked.  I wanted to leave a little of the natural wood color showing.  Then voila!  I achieved what looked to me like the Restoration Hardware weathered/reclaimed wood look.

I let it dry for a few days.  Then I added a coat of wax with a brush, let it sit for 5 minutes and then buffed it with a cloth.  After awhile it occurred to me that some nice paper in the drawers would make it special.  Hello pretty scrapbook paper!  I sprayed the back of the paper with spray adhesive and stuck it in the drawers.  The buyer absolutely loved it, and so did I!

And, it felt pretty cool to custom finish a dresser for someone too.  Yay!  Can I make a few nickles upcycling and refinishing furniture while relieving my husband of his ongoing fear that our home will be overtaken by a growing furniture collection/warehouse?

Sometimes I take a chance on a piece of furniture.  The chance I take is that, while it looks good in pictures it might be beyond repair (with my skills and tools), but I decide to go get it despite the fact that it's an hour-long drive away.  Yep.  I sometimes drive for an hour each way to pick up a "free" dresser.  Granted, I can often combine several errands into one trip, but it's still a chance I'm taking.  Gas isn't cheap, and if the piece is DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), then I've wasted gas/money.  But, I do like an adventure.  And, some days I need a reason to get out of the house, leave the dishes and laundry behind, get in the SUV, sip a cup of coffee and put on a podcast.  It's almost like a mini-vacation.  I like to drive, when there is no traffic.

This dresser was one of those chances.  Its pictures made it look real purdy.  According to its previous owner, all the drawers worked perfectly, and it was in fine, used condition for $40.  OK.  I'm game for a drive.  I'll take a chance.  But, when I came face to face with the beast, it appeared to be covered in a veneer so thin and so cheap looking that I could've sworn it wasn't much more than wallpaper or self-adhesive drawer/shelf liner.

I really should have taken more pictures of just how cheap the finish was on this beastie.  But alas, this is the only one I took!  The lines were so enticing.  The hardware looked lovely, and since I had driven all the way, excited for a new project, I couldn't say "no thanks."  I bought her, took her home, roughed her up and listened for her to tell me how she wanted to be dressed.  It took a little while, and sometimes I wasn't sure it was going to work out, but with the help of some fabulous primer (Sherwin Williams Adhesion Primer), a sweet orbital sander and a bit o free time, I uncovered her beauty!

I'm not going to do a full tutorial on how it all happened, but I will say that I had to come up for a plan to deal with the brass hardware.  Because of the initially cheap construction (probably assembled at home), some of the drawer handles had been glued in and would not come out!  I couldn't really paint the drawers without also painting those glued-in pulls, so I went with it!  I tried to give them that antique patina type look that I've seen on other more authentic looked French Provincial pieces.  This is what happened....

I am happy with the result.  Here is the beastie all dressed for the ball.  I think she is a beauty.

What do you think?  What color would you have chosen?