A friend of mine tipped me off to a dresser sitting on the side of the road.  Yes, really.

Unfortunately I didn’t have time that day to drop everything and go get it… so on the off-chance it might still be there, I drove by on my way to work the next morning.  In the darkness of the early morning, I found it, slammed on the brakes and backed up so I could haul this thing off.

Someone should have had a camera.

I mean, can you imagine me lifting this thing by myself and loading it up in the back of my SUV?!  Well, it happened.  I could barely see what I was doing (at 5:15 am)… but it happened.

A jogger ran past me.  I smiled.  He didn’t stop to help.

I got it all loaded up and then went about business as normal.  But I could not wait to get my hands on a paint brush!

As soon as I saw the piece I knew I wanted to paint it white.  Once I started working on it I could tell it had 2 or 3 layers of paint under the current coat of black paint.  I knew I also wanted to distress it… but first I had to do some work on it.  It needed to be cleaned a bit.  Additionally, one of the boards on the top had warped and cracked off.  While I couldn’t put it back like it was, I knew this piece was going to look distressed and whom ever wanted this piece wouldn’t mind the board being a bit askew – after all, it would just add character.  So I glued/nailed it on and then got to the business of painting.

Once a few layers of white paint were sufficiently in place I added another dimension / layer of color.  The green you see was applied with a “white-wash” technique.  In this instance, it’s actually “green-washed”.  But here’s how it works – I painted the green very lightly over the white and then while the paint was still wet, I “washed” some of it off with a damp cloth.  I applied this technique to the drawer fronts, the top and the sides.  But I left parts of it just white, to create a visual depth to the piece.

Lastly, I added some stenciled ferns… and then of course, finished it off with a clear wax.  I found some fun drawer pulls and and carefully installed them to finish off the piece.

Wouldn’t this make a perfect addition to the outdoor living space?  Maybe a potting table?  Or a beverage center or buffet table out there?

So, in these pictures you’ll see it as displayed inside The Rustic Sparrow in Escondido, Ca.

It felt good to turn a discarded item into something improved.  I absolutely loved this process.  Plus, I did my civic duty of helping clean up the neighborhood.   You’re welcome…