DIY Dark Antiquing Wax (And a Dresser Re-do)

My good friend Kristina has been busy planning her oldest daughter, Annikka's wedding. We started talking about decorations and that led to me acquiring this dresser.

The plan was to fancy her up a bit, use it for decoration for the reception and then give it to Annikka for her new apartment. This is my version of a wedding gift. Notice the cobwebs underneath? Yeah, she'd been stored on a back patio for quite a while.

So, cutting to the chase. I primed, brushed 2 coats of homemade chalk paint, added some off-white accents and here she is.

Since she had some pretty significant wear, I decided we should rock the shabby look, made possible with some 100 grit sandpaper and a whole lot of elbow grease.

When it came time to seal it, I chose not to go with my typical PAS. I knew I wanted some sort of glaze or dark wax to bring out the details and since I used chalk paint, if I used polyacrylic that would mean brushing on at least one coat to seal the porous paint, glazing, and then brushing on 2-3 more coats. That didn't sound too fun. I decided to bring out the detail with some dark antiquing wax.

Since I made my own chalk paint, why not make my own dark wax too?

I started with some Johnson Paste Wax. Why? Because I had it on hand. Why did I have it on hand? Because it's half the price of most soft waxes and I'm cheap. I've used both Annie Sloan and CeCe Caldwell wax before. I like them both (CeCe Caldwell's better), but I've had really good results with SC Johnson's paste wax too.

To get ready to tint the wax, make sure the wax is very soft, almost melted consistancy. To do this, you could set the tub in a bowl of hot water, not reaching the top of the tub and let it sit for a few minutes and then stir well.

Or, you could do what I did and leave the tub of wax sitting on a shelf  in the garage and live in a place that reaches 115 degrees almost daily. That technique worked great! All I had to do was scoop some out into a plastic container.

Because wax is oil-based, you will need to tint it with an oil-based product. I started by pouring a bit of Kona wood stain into the wax and stirring well.

It looked perfect! But when I tried some on a sample board, it was a bit weak. It didn't really leave any color after it was buffed off. So, to step it up a notch, I added around a teaspoon of Raw Umber universal tint.

I know I've mentioned this product a million times before, but it's really that useful! You can use it to tint virtually anything (water-based, oil-based, shellac, etc)! I talked about using universal tint to mix custom glaze in this post. Also, a bottle only costs around $10 at Home Depot and lasts forever. I bought this bottle over a year ago, use it several times a month, and it's more than half-full still!

After adding the tint, I stirred the wax very well, making sure to blend any lumps. It was pretty runny. Too thin to try to wax something with. I simply covered the container, and popped it into my fridge for about half an hour. Once it set up, it was perfect! Nice, smooth, dark wax with just the right amount of pigment.

Back to the dresser/wedding gift.

Using a clean rag, I rubbed on one coat of dark wax, let dry and buffed. After about 3 hrs, I applied an additional coat of clear wax, for added protection.

The dark wax toned down the white a bit, without making it look dirty. And I love the way it emphasized the details in the wood.

Once more, let's see the before

And after.

I'm happy with the way my blue and white painted dresser came out and I'll definitely make my own DIY dark wax again!



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Go See Me @ Remodelaholic Today!

Hey everyone! I am beyond thrilled and honored to be a guest blogger over at Remodelaholic today!

Cassity emailed me a couple weeks back and asked if I would write a post about my Nail Head Headboard Tufted the EASY Way.

 I think that is the fastest response email I have ever written! I adore Cassity, her husband Justin and their blog. They are always turning out amazing projects and are very inspiring for any DIYer!

So, please check out the post HERE today and learn how to build a tufted headboard.

My Second Liebster Award!

I'm honored to have received a second Liebster award from the talented Britney from The Princess and Her Cowboys.

The Liebster Award is an award for blogs with under 200 followers. Liebster is German for dearest, or beloved and a blog nominated for the Liebster Award is said to be worth watching.

* There are a few things to follow once you have been nominated:
* Acknowledge the blog that nominated you with a post.
* Share 11 facts about yourself.
* Then answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
* List up to 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers that you believe deserve some recognition.
* Post 11 new questions for them to answer.
* Notify all the bloggers you've selected that they've been nominated.
* Do not nominate the blog who nominated you.

Here are the questions Britney wrote for me:

1. Where would you travel if money were no object? I know it's not very exciting, but I've always wanted to stay in a Bed and Breakfast in New England in the fall.
2. What language would you like to learn if given the chance? I'm about 3/4 fluent in Spanish, so I should probably finish that one first! 
3. What do you like to do as a hobby besides blogging? I kind of have a problem adopting new hobbies. I like to stay busy, but I'd say the one that has been the most consistent is baking.
4. Who is your hero and why? My momma :) While she was dying, I had the opportunity to view her as just another person, not just my mom. I discovered what a patient, resilient person she was.
5. What is your favorite childhood memory? Hmm, maybe our family trip to Savannah. 
6. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why? AZ! I love living by family and could never move away again. I would like to move a little closer into town though. 
7. What makes you unique? That's a hard one! I'm kind of a blend between a boy and a girl (yes I realize how weird that sounds and no, I don't mean anatomically) I have a large collection of high heels, I often wear extensions, and I love putting together and outfit. On the other hand, I have no problem with splinters, I love the hardware store, and look for any opportunity to shoot my bow.
8. How did you come up with the name for your blog? I use my pneumatic nail gun, stapler, paint gun, etc, just about every day, so it made sense. 
9. What is your favorite part about the summer? I live in "The Valley of the Sun". My favorite part of summer is when it ends. 
10. Favorite food? Doughnuts :)
11. What blog has helped you out the most as you've started? Well, the person who has helped the most is Miriam from Be Book Bound. 

I'd like to nominate these four ladies:

Beja from Howdy Honey - This girl is amazing! Beja JUST started her blog and already has been featured on some of the "big dog" blogs. She's got a bright future!

Mindi from My Love 2 Create - Mindi is a sweetheart. She is often the first one to comment on anyone's post and she gave me some good advice when I first got started.

Kelly from A Swell Place to Dwell - Kelly is so much cooler than me. I love her style! All of her projects are young and hip. She has a great eye for style!

Andi from Delusions of Ingenuity - I'm pretty sure Andi has been nominated multiple times, but she still deserves another. She makes me literally "laugh out loud" (which is grammatically incorrect, and Andi would appreciate me saying so) with every post of hers. Such a funny gal!

So my questions for you four are these:

1. Were you a "cool kid" or a nerd in High School?

2. What is your favorite project you have ever done?

3. What is your best physical trait?

4. As a little girl, what did you want to be when you grew up?

5. What's your favorite power tool?

6. What is the greatest product or technique you have discovered this year?

7. If you could go back, would you change the name of your blog? And if so, what would it be?

8. Do you think you're funny?

9. Does your husband think you're funny?

10. Do you attend church?

11. What's the best thing you've ever eaten?

Thanks again to Britney for my second award! And I hope my nominees will share some fun info about themselves with us as well!

Haven Announcement and a Sneak Peak

I was able to buy a black market ticket and now I'm going to Haven!!! Yay! 

I can't tell you how excited I am about this trip! I was on the fence about it for a while. The trip won't exactly be cheap, and I really didn't want to be the loser who goes by herself and doesn't know anyone (I'm still trying to talk Miriam from Be Book Bound into going with me). Also, my husband was a little nervous about me staying in a big city without a roommate. 

The final straw in the decision was when I discovered Marianne from Miss Mustard Seed was going to be there. MMS is one of my daily reads, so I had to jump at the chance of meeting her. 

Since buying my ticket, I found out that none other than Ana White herself will be a speaker!!! Even if I'm the loner no one wants to talk to, its worth 2 days of my time to meet her. 

Moving on...

I've just started a new project. Can you guess what it will be? 

I'll give you a hint. If you follow my Furniture Inspiration Board on Pinterest, you may have seen my muse. Just a warning! I realize what a HUGE undertaking this will be, and it may possibly take the rest of my life to finish it. It's been on my mind for months, and I finally got my custom work out of the way, for now, so it's time to begin! 

Check back for updates.

World's Largest Coffee Table Transformed

I've mentioned one of my aunts before and how fabulous she is. Well, the truth is, I have 5 aunts and they are ALL fabulous. More than half are a little crazy too, but the good kind of crazy. Aunt Leann is possibly the craziest of them all. She is so much fun! I've never met a person who didn't like Leann.


We've been talking for months about making her a new coffee table for her family room. A few years back, they enclosed their 4-car garage to make one GIANT family room. Its perfect for our huge family to gather and Leann and her husband are always entertaining massive groups of people. Well, an enormous room needs enormous furniture.

Also, Aunt Leann and her girlfriends are know to have spontaneous dance parties, and almost always end up on top of the table. So this bad boy needed to be beefy enough to hold multiple, dancing women at one time.

Enter the world's largest coffee table.

I'm sure there are larger coffee tables out there, but I sure haven't seen one. This thing is almost 4 ft wide and  just shy of 5 ft long. My neighbor was moving and graciously asked if I would like to take it, or it was getting taken to the dump. So, I scored a solid, heavy, ginormous coffee table for free!

I instantly called Aunt Leann. She came over and took a look and decided it would be great with some modifications. Her house is beautiful and much more formal than the table in it's original state. More European, less contemporary. (Pardon the blurry inspiration photos)

The first step was to raise it up. It was 16" tall. On the low-end of average for a coffee table. Aunt Leann wanted it raised up quite a bit, so I dug through my scrap and found three pieces of 4 x 4 posts. After a lot of pre-drilling and counter-sinking, I attached the posts, horizontally to the bottom surfaces of the table with 3" wood screws. That did the trick perfectly of raising the whole table up 3 1/2 inches.

The finish was in bad shape, and we were planning on going a couple shades lighter to match her existing furniture, so that meant it was time to bust out the belt sander. It was a huge pain in the rear to strip off the old, dark stain without damaging the wood veneer. I ended up using 120 grit and ultimately had to do a large part of the sanding by hand (definitely NOT fun).

I didn't worry about the bottom rail because it was going to get covered up.

I realize I chose a really difficult way to install a lower shelf, but the plan called for something different originally, and I modified it. My way involved 2 x 2's, some 1/4 plywood and a LOT of pocket holes.

Because of the span of the table top, it has a support post in the middle. Great for adding support, but a HUGE pain for adding the plywood shelf. I ended up having to cut it in 2 pieces and cover the seam.

Once stripped to bare wood, it was time to go crazy with moulding. I got to use the really pretty, stain-grade stuff. Man, that stuff isn't cheap! The baseboard and casing I used ended up being something like $2.50 a foot and is only sold in 8 ft lengths. That adds up fast! It was fun though, to get creative and start layering the mouldings. What difference some detail made!

After filling and sanding, it was time to stain. I first wiped on a coat of pre-stain conditioner, let it soak in for a bit, and gave another light sanding with 220 grit.

The goal was to match her existing furniture. I tried 3 different colors on sample boards with no success before I finally wised up. "Why don't I just mix my own stain color instead of frantically trying to find the 'perfect' one". I finally settled on a blend of Minwax Gunstock and English Chestnut, with some Rustoleum Kona mixed in.

The color was good, but I decided I didn't like how much of the oak grain was showing and I wanted a little more richness, so I followed up with 2 coats of PolyShades in Antique Walnut. I've talked more about PolyShades in this post, but it is semi-opaque, so I like to use it when I want to cover just a bit of the wood grain.

To bring out more of the detail in the moulding, I used some black glaze, only on the rope detail.

To finish, I sealed everything in 4 coats of Minwax PolyAcrylic in Satin. This thing is going to be used for more of a dance floor than a table, so it had to be durable.

Here he is all done.

And the before again

I LOVE the way the moulding turned out!

And the top now is nice and smooth, and a little less oak-y.

Quite a transformation huh?

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