Layered Gray Dresser

Wow…have we been busy lately. Great news for our followers, our storefront is getting it’s much needed makeover! It took us so long to get the shed at the farmhouse cleaned out from all its accumulated junk. Even though it was a lot of dirty work, we found a whole pile of treasures we plan on incorporating into our furniture and decor collection! We can’t wait to show you more on the shop later 🙂 In the meantime, we have a pretty layered gray dresser we painted in between everything else.

 

For your convenience in locating products we have used, this article contains affiliate links. All products are items we use ourselves and genuinely recommend. For our full disclosure go to our “Disclosures” page. 

This dresser was another auction find and had some great subtle details we wanted to accentuate. It was in wonderful shape and basically just needed the dirt washed off before we got started. The top also had a weird spot on it where the varnish was wearing off, so we took the electric sander (this is the one we use) to it to make sure everything was smoothed down.

Once the hardware was taken off and set aside, we began by painting a dark gray chalk paint on all of the edges or anywhere we thought would be distressed to show this color. This layer was brushed on at all different angles since it would only be shown in spots.

We used a new brand of paint for this dresser  starting with the under layer of paint which is a dark grey color. (This is the paint we used) When that was dry we then brushed on a lighter grey paint right over the entire piece. This brand of chalk paint actually covered really well and only needed one coat! Even over the dark gray!

To distress this piece we used quite the mixture of techniques to achieve the look we wanted. We started by taking a small spray bottle of half water and half white vinegar, sprayed on over the dried paint, and then wiped down with a cloth. We did this same technique on our Curved Front Dresser, but it didn’t work with this paint as easily as it did with the Annie Sloan. So instead, we took a fine grit sanding block to distress even more.

The dark gray showed through as we distressed away the light gray. In some spots we took it all the way down to the wood underneath it all. We loved being able to see all 3 of the colors!

Then lastly, we took a small brush and dry-brushed some of the dark gray in corners and over and around some of the distressed parts to accentuate it even more. And don’t forget to seal the piece once you have achieved the look you want! This is what we used to give it that protective layer.

To change the look of the old hardware we took the same dark Charcoal paint and painted the bottom layer. Once dried, we just dry-brushed the light gray on top to bring out the details and give them the same two-tone look as the dresser. (For a tutorial on dry-brushing click here)

By using the 2 gray colors we were able to achieve the layered look we were going for which gave this dresser some great character!

It would be perfect pretty much anywhere in the home and we always love a dresser with an attached mirror for extra fun!

Our dresser was styled with a vintage typewriter, a chippy candle holder and some beautiful hydrangeas which gave the piece a fun farmhouse feel.

Source List:

Most of the decorative items are “found”, but if you would like to get similar decor we found some online!

• Similar decorative glass bottles: 4 piece decorative set, 1 Apothecary jar
• Similar: Mini typewriter replica
• Similar: White Candleholder  (Love these!)
• Similar: Beaufort Vase, Indigo Terra Cotta Vase

 

We think this would make the perfect statement piece to a big entryway or a fun way to store your linens.

Linking to: Rustic Refined, Making it in the Mountains, A Little Bird Told Me

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