I was watching Kacha’s YouTube channel (you should check out her channel she is amazing) and she referred to herself as a Furniture Artist. I had never heard that term before, but when I looked back on my body of work, Furniture Artist seems like it fits well for me too!
This week I started work on an antique dresser. My plan was to decoupage the front of the dresser and paint the rest with Chalk paint. Two things happened to put a kibosh on my plans. The dresser needed more work than I initially thought, and after researching decoupaging, I found that it needs to be done slowly and methodically. What I am trying to say is there will not be a reveal this week.
So, with that, I will share what I have done so far!

The dresser has great lines and is a very solid piece.

As I started to clean it, pull out drawers and remove the hardware, I began to see just how much “love” it needed.

I washed the dresser down with water and a capful of lemon-verbena all-purpose cleaner. I had to change the water three times before I was finished.


I removed all the hardware. They are gorgeous!

My husband sanded the top for me since my allergies were acting up.

There were a few pieces of molding that needed to be glued back into place.

On the top of the dresser some of the veneer was pulling up. I used a cabob stick to push the glue underneath. Then placed some books on top to keep it in place while it dried.

In other areas the veneer was completely off. I filled those spots with spackle.


Because the dresser has dark wood, I painted it with three coats of KILZ primer to prevent bleed through.

It took longer than I expected, but it is ready for the next step. Decoupage!

This is the decoupage design I chose.

It is big enough to fit the entire front of dresser. Maybe I should have started smaller?
Cross your fingers next week a decoupaged dresser!