Saturday, April 13, 2013

Repair Painted Dresser


 This beautiful piece of furniture was going to be thrown out, until the owner contacted me to see if I could repair the painted dresser. This piece of furniture has been in her family about 50 years, there are several pieces that were split up between family members and the thought of loosing it was heart breaking. This hand painted, faux painted Bombay style dresser was originally made by the White Fine Furniture Co., purchased in New York City. There is a beautiful oriental scene on the entire front of the dresser and it flows onto the sides. What I loved about this nine draw piece was its size was unobtrusive, the color and the art work was not overwhelming.

So, what happened? Incense oil spilled out and over the top of the faux finish, melting away layers of paint, right down to the wood. The spill measured around two and a half feet,  several areas had quarter size holes in the finish. As you can see, it was pretty bad.



 The first thing I needed to do is to clean off any residue from the dresser top, sand the entire top with 180 grit and then apply a patching compound to level out the damaged areas.


The compound was sanded smooth with 180 grit and leveled off, dust was vacuumed and wiped with a damp cotton cloth. I primed the entire dresser top and when dried, sanded lightly with 220 grit. I then applied two coats of the base paint, which was a latex eggshell finish. After the first coat of paint was dry I went over the the top with 220 grit to knock of any dust particals. To apply the primer and finish coats I used a mohair mini roller with a 3/8 in. nap. This roller nap is fantastic for a quality finish.


         Finally, the top was faux painted to match using a dry brush application to create a subtle wood grain. Then a light splattering was added. The protective finish coats of urethane was applied using the mohair mini roller with a 3/8 in nap. Each coat of urethane was lightly sanded with 220 grit, wiped clean before appling  the last coat of satin finish.

 I was happy that I could save this furniture from being thrown out, but then you know that old saying, one person's trash is another's treasure.



No comments:

Post a Comment