I have to be honest, this custom job was one that I thought was gong to be easy and quick! Wow, was I wrong. You have a vision and process the steps in your mind, but it doesn’t always turn out that way.

For some reason I seem to pick the heavy ones. This dresser was SO heavy, I couldn’t lift the sides up to put this on wheels. Seriously! And I can lift some heavy stuff, but this piece, nope. It had two step-side tables to match. The customer wanted these to be a light color with glaze, not too dark. Piece of cake, right? Wrong. It’s a learning process all the time.

I first cleaned this piece twice and rinsed twice. It sat at my clients parents home, and she wanted to keep it for sentimental reasons, plus the fact that these solid wood pieces just aren’t made like this these days. These needed a fresh new look!

I did the first coat with primer using B.O.S.S. by Dixie Belle Paint, before painting 2 coats of chalk mineral paint Fluff, a bright white.

The Dixie Belle chalk mineral paint goes on smooth with great coverage. I start with a damp synthetic brush, while at times using a misting bottle to mist the paint as I go to keep the brush from dragging and avoid brush strokes. I very lightly sand in between each coat for a smooth finish, with a 400 grit paper. I don’t want to sand down the paint, I want to rid of any rough areas.

How I Glazed Bedroom Furniture

My customer wanted the doors painted inside, so I had to remove them. You can always count on one door giving you an issue, haha! But, it always works out. Some easy and some a bit harder. Have patience…it all works out.

In the middle photo above, those were three different glazing effects I did to see which one the client would want. So it was a process to add, paint over and re-glaze before finding the final effect that the customer loved. Because that’s what we do 🙂

This wasn’t a piece of cake. I questioned my glazing and my fluffing 🙂 and I got frustrated and irritated and I hated it and I liked it and so on, and so on. It’s definitely a process. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Learning with each technique is a good thing, no matter how tough it is. It’s worth it!

It was kind of like the papa, mama and baby bear with the porridge, story. (haha) Not too light, not too dark. I watered down the glaze a bit to keep it on the lighter side. My client wanted to have the lighter color coming through but not a white piece. So the drawer on the top was their choice, and back at it I went.

After applying the glaze, I went back and added a watered down Fluff and more glaze where needed. I can’t even tell you how many times I did this until I was pleased with it. It’s an eye thing, do it, stand back and do it again. Us painters know it can make us crazy trying to be perfect. Sometimes you just have to let it go and step all the way back and be done. This technique isn’t for everyone, and I would probably change it up next time. You learn more as you go and that’s a good thing. (I can’t say that enough.) As long as my client is happy, that’s all that matters.

The client only wanted the hardware cleaned up slightly because they liked the look. It was her fathers after all, and although she wanted an update on the finish, she wanted to keep the original look of the hardware. I used 0000 steel wool and a shop cloth to shine them up a bit.

I used Gator Hide to provide for a tough water repellent finish. It’s a water based poly-acrylic for high traffic area protection. I did use this only on the side table surfaces because they will get the most use. The all over coverage was the Clear Coat Satin by Dixie Belle.