The Finished Dresser & Chest of Drawers (and Dealing With Chrome & Brass Bathroom Fixtures)

Last Updated on February 12, 2019 by Kristi Linauer

Well, maybe I shouldn’t call them finished. They’re finished for the most part. They would have been finished if I had remembered to pick up a foam brush for the polyurethane that I need to use on the stained tops. Oh well. For the purposes of this “before and after”, I’m going to declare them finished.

So yesterday you got to see the “before” and “in progress” pics of the dresser and chest of drawers.

Now, here’s the “before” and “after”!

Isn’t it amazing what a little sanding, painting, and staining can do?!

And then here’s the “before” and “after” of the chest of drawers…

What a difference! I had intended to get a better before pic of the chest of drawers before I started, but I got a little too anxious to get busy and completely forgot! This one was taken when I painted the room, which is why things are stacked in front of it.

Isn’t it amazing what a little distressing and antiquing will do? I really like a fresh, clean coat of heirloom white paint, but with the headboard, bedding, and carpeting all the same color, it would have been overkill to have the dresser and the chest of drawers a solid off-white also. So, I opted to distress and antique the finish.

Here is the dresser before the distressing/antiquing process…

And here it is, all distressed and antiqued…

I’m quite pleased with how they turned out. So much so that I took about a thousand pics of them! Lucky you. 😀 Ready?

Okay, I’ll spare you the other 996 pictures. That’s probably enough…for now. 🙂

If you’d like instructions on this project, you can click here: How To Paint, Distress and Antique a Piece Of Furniture.

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Now on to something completely different…

The metal finishes in Gwen’s bathroom posed a bit of a challenge for me. As I’ve shown you before, the shower door frame is a very shiny brass, and the two sink faucets, tub faucet, and shower fixtures are all a shiny chrome and brass combo.

Now because we’re trying to do this makeover on a budget, new fixtures were out of the question. Have you priced those things lately?! Goodness…we would have spent more replacing the two sink faucets, the tub faucet, and the shower fixtures that we’ve spent on the rest of the bathroom! And that doesn’t even include the cost of installation!!

So I had to find a way to make them work. And because we were adding a new tub chandelier and two above-mirror vanity lights, I needed to find something that would blend with the chrome/brass bath fixtures, and also blend with the aged finishes being used in the bedroom. Quite a challenge, I’d say!!

My solution? Use antiqued silver and gold on the new lighting.

I found this chandelier at Home Depot, and because I saw it hanging…way up…with the light glaring in my eyes, I mistakenly thought that this chandelier had silver AND gold on it.

When I got it to Gwen’s house, I noticed that it was, in fact, silver and black. I have no idea how I saw gold on that thing. I guess I just really, really wanted it to be there, so I saw what I wanted to see.

So, determined to get some gold onto that chandelier, I taped off all of the silver parts, and got out my trusty gold spray paint.

So pretty! Much better, don’t you think?

Ha! Just joking! I know, I know…at that point, it looked like something I picked up from Liberace’s yard sale. In fact, there it is…in the corner!

😀

Okay, that’s not exactly what I had in mind. But…after a little antiquing, it was beautiful…just what I had imagined.

Here’s another “before” and “after” of the chandelier…

So today, I need work on these…

With my trusty blue painters tape, I’ll tape off a few sections, paint them gold, and then antique the whole thing. Wash, rinse, repeat…

I’m linking up to

• “I made it without my hubby” at Shanty 2 Chic
• Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
• Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick
• DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land
• Hookin’ Up at House of Hepworths
• Saturday Nite Special (Themed Link Up) at Funky Junk Interiors

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