A Dresser for My Mom

Jennifer Ferguson

Navy dresser with floral foiled drawer fronts and a stenciled top

Now, this was a fun piece of furniture to create ๐Ÿ™‚ It makes it that much more fun when you are creating a special piece for a special someone in your life! In this case, I was creating this dresser for my mom.

If you donโ€™t already know, I have recently had to move my mom into assisted living as her dementia has progressed rapidly. I found her a great place down by me in Huntington Beach and it has been great having her closer to me and getting to see her often. If you have experienced this situation you also know that it is very stressful, so to say that I havenโ€™t been stressed the last few weeks would be a lie. But everything is finally starting to slow down and get back to our new โ€œnormalโ€.

So since I moved her into a new place I had to create some awesome furniture. The first piece I am going to share with you is this awesome dresser I made for her.

Letโ€™s Get Startedโ€ฆ

The oak dresser before its makeover

First, I sanded and cleaned the dresser.ย 

Texture medium rolled with an art roller on taped drawer fronts

Then the top two drawers center panels had a carved design that just didnโ€™t appeal to me, so I back filed with Texture Medium. It took about two layers to make the design disappear and then I applied another layer of Texture Medium and rolled the Crocodile Roller through it while the Texture Medium was wet. I then allowed it to dry and then sanded.

Crocodile texture on two taped drawer fronts

Next, we are onto the top of the dresser. ย I taped it off and then Texture Medium was troweled on. Try to keep the Texture Medium thin, about 1/8 to 1/16โ€ณ, and then roll the Crocodile Roller through the wet material.ย  Allow to dry and sand down all the high peaked areas. The top of the dresser was damaged and the Texture Medium Crocodile finish covered all the damage.ย ย 

Close-up of crocodile texture medium on the dresser top

I then primed the entire dresser and drawers with XIM bonding primer. This is one of my favorite primers to use and you can find it on Amazon HERE.

Dresser frame painted navy with the drawers removed

After that, I base coated with General Finishes Coastal Blue. I did two coats of this.ย 

Four drawer fronts covered in floral transfer foil

Now to the fun part! Foiling! I foiled the drawer fronts, so I taped off the drawer front center panels and then applied foil adhesive and allowed to dry for at least one hour. Then I transferred the Abigail Foil. I allowed a little of the Coastal Blue to peak through, but you can do a complete transfer if that is more your style.

Inside of a drawer before painting

I also decided to foil the insides and sides of the drawers. The top two drawers were well used and even after a ton of cleaning they still didnโ€™t look like something I would want to put my clothes in, so I decided to Foil them and make them very pretty. Also, it definitely added a WOW factor to this beautiful piece of furniture. Again these were Primed with Bondago Black and base coated with Coastal Blue. I then applied foil adhesive and foiled them.ย 

Finished navy dresser with an open floral foiled drawer

Lastly, I used the Moroccan Damask roller on the ends of the dresser with Perfetto Steel Blue Metallic Paint. I finished it up with Final Coat to seal.ย 

Side of the navy dresser with a tone-on-tone stencil

This project was so much fun and I am obsessed with the way it turned out. Be on the lookout for my next upcoming project ๐Ÿ™‚

Products I Used:

Texture Medium

Foil Adhesive

XIM Bonding Primer

Abigail Foil

General Finishes โ€“ Coastal Blue

Crocodile Fauxy Roller

Bondago Black

Moroccan Demask Stamping Roller

Perfetto Steel Blue Metallic Paint (Call to Order)

Final Coat

Xo, Jenn

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