Step out of the box and get creative - Sunken Treasure Decoupaged Dresser

Last week was my "24th" (wink wink) birthday, my favorite gift is to take the day off and do something creative.  This year I finally took up some decoupage papers I've had for a year and a dresser we've been storing for two years at least.  It was one for the final pieces we had removed from our storage unit.

It was a beautiful 9 drawer french provincial dresser that needed a little love.  The veneer was lifting and missing in places, the drawers needed securing and the hardware needed some cleaning.  Our original plan was to paint it a solid color in the beautiful One Hour Enamel paint line by Wise Owl, I was thinking Black Cherry.  

After discussing it over and over realizing it would be another year for us to really  address all of the veneer removal needed, I decided this would be the perfect piece to go all our creative one.

Chris did the repairs added wood putty to the places that had missing veneer and cleaned the dresser very well for me.  I had also sanded it lightly with our SurfPrep sander, which is amazing!

I picked up the Saltwash and a base blue out of my Wise Owl Chalk Synthesis paint that are in my FIFO bottle from various paint parties and we to work. 

I added saltwash to multiple cups of blue shades, Santorini, Nautilus, Pacific, & Poseidon. I had fun expressing my inner mermaid building up areas with texture as if this dresser had been a ship on the ocean crashing among the waves and rocks. I then did a light sand to smooth out the chalk paint, wiped it clean and began planning my decoupage art! I fell in love with these designs when Roycyled Treasures debuted them in 2020, I believe! It's all a blur....

 

I loved the Octupus on the corner creeping out and wanted to keep it in tact.  I decided to cut out the jellyfish and placed them all over the front and sides of the dresser.  I love the way it turned out.

I used our Wise Owl Satin Varnish for the decoupage medium, it works so well. Its the perfect consistency and gives you enough time to work thru placing your design and moving it a bit if needed.  I did learn I should have cut the decoupage prior to applying the varnish under the decoupage for the drawers!  It was a little more challenging to slice the full sheet at the drawer lines!  Next time I will lay out my design and then cut at the drawers.

Once the papers are secured and I've worked on any wrinkles or air pockets I sealed with varnish over the top of the papers.  Halfway thru the project I ran out of satin varnish and switch to the One Hour Enamel Clear product which works just as well if not better than the varnish.

Once all my decoupage art was placed I went back with my same colors plus blended Mermaid Kiss and Black around and the designs with the original colors to blend the paper into the paint.  

I decided to use Black Glaze for the top and mixed in Heavy Metals Pearl.  The Metallic paint by Wise Owl is like no other paint I've used. I added Pearl into the jellyfish tentacles to highlight and provide some dimension as well as Bronze and Copper into some of the other art around the octopus.  The metallic paint looked so good I went ahead and blended it into different areas all over.

 

I sealed the entire dresser in One Hour Enamel Semi Gloss for a beautiful flawless finish.

Now you know, that's how it was made!  All the products used are available on my website here and many are in our booth at Painted Tree Buford, look for booth A1 starting this week as we start moving tomorrow from E7&8!

If you are interested in getting some hands on time with all of our products consider signing up for one of our upcoming workshops at The Painted Tree in Buford!  Registration is now open.  

If you haven't taken the time to dream and let your creative artist out in a while go for it, what are you waiting on?  Its a natural stress release, you'll end up with a unique one of a kind beauty all your own!

 

I've recently begun to start a journey towards becoming an amazon affiliate a well,  I love these scissors below for cutting and shaping your decoupage paper.  A must have in your crafting kit!  Check them out with the link below.  

With each purchase I will get a small commission to help grow out business and in reality support our kids activities. :P