From Gold to Blue to Gray (part 2)

When last we left our story, we had a gray dresser. You'd think that would be the whole story. But I was only just beginning. The next step was to transform the hardware. I rubbed all six handles down with steel wool, washed them in non-TSP cleaner, and mounted them to cardboard, a trick I learned in some handy man magazine or other. It helps to get the spray paint exactly where it's needed without having to rest the handles on something. It's a great trick!

After several coats of a shiny white all-in-one spray paint, I had pretty, glossy hardware. Also a white, sore finger. Spray painting is hard! I see why spray can triggers exist.

The hardware got some time to dry and cure while I went back to the dresser itself. You may remember that my inspiration was two-toned. The original yellow and gold piece was actually tri-tone (two tints of the gold metal paints around the edges).

I wanted to stick to that effect. After a lot of research, I decided to buy Modern Masters metallic paint. After a little hunting, I found it at an independent hardware shop not too far away and bought pewter and platinum (I actually could have sworn I bought silver but when I got home, lo and behold, I had grabbed platinum. I doubt anyone would ever notice--I'm not sure I even could.)

It didn't take long to realize that this was HARD! Tiny paint brush, controlled hand, and slow, patient brush strokes. I abandoned the tri-tone idea and stuck to just going over the scroll-work in platinum. I say "just" going over the scroll-work but actually the final result took three pain-staking coats over a week. Each coat took about an hour or more. It was hard, but I think it was worth it.

Next should be the big reveal but first let's take a detour and discuss protective coatings. I had considered using Minwax polycrylic or wax on the whole thing but finally decided just to do the top surface, since that was the most likely to get wet, stained, etc. Before I could start, I had to wait two whole weeks for the paint to cure before starting (if you cover it while it's still wet, it can bubble and do all sorts of horrible things). It was a tough wait--as long as the process had taken up until that point.

Finally, after 14 days, I whipped out my trusty sponges and started applying a super thin layer of polycrylic. I waited two hours and then, as the instructions suggested, got out my super-fine sand paper to just barely rough up the surface for the second coat to adhere better. And that's when it happened...

Despite using 300 grit sand paper and a very light touch AND despite having put down three nice coats of gray, the surface started turning white! I actually had chipped and sanded the gray off in a few places with no effort at all! I guess that layer of polycrylic was a little TOO thin.

Pause for a short temper tantrum and some weeping.

The next step was to wipe off all the sand paper dust, wipe the whole thing down, and do the surface in gray AGAIN! Three more coats (plus a few touch ups to the platinum around the edges where I accidentally got some gray paint) and then ANOTHER two weeks. And then finally, FINALLY, I carefully tried the polycrylic again. This time though, there was no sanding. It adhered, layer after thin layer, just fine. I debated sanding the very last coat, just for some sheen. And then gave myself a stern talking to and decided that it was really truly done and to just STOP TOUCHING IT!

If it seems like I'm using an awful lot of caps, it's so that you can begin to understand my frustration of having spent more than 6 weeks on this project (1 week prep, prime, paint + 1 week platinum trim + 2 weeks curing + .25 weeks of paint + 2 weeks curing + .25 weeks polycrylic). Fortunately, I learned some valuable lessons (trim is hard, sanding is bad) and LOVE the final results. So here, at last, is the big reveal:

And one more time, the before and after side-by-side, just for kicks. Because I earned it!