Falling in love with Waterfalls

I have to say that I was never a big fan of waterfall style furniture.  Yes,  they almost always provide GREAT storage with deep, deep drawers and they are plentiful in the market place.  They lacked the curvy aprons, and lovely turned legs that make my heart skip a beat that other dressers possess.  Not to mention the scrolls and wood decals.  I have been prodded by the Mr. to purchase a few, and much to my surprise, they have become finished favorites.

This little vanity would be one, that I ended up absolutely loving.

It helped that it had a perfect full moon mirror with it.  

I also had another waterfall dresser that I was able to make a 2nd Omaha Subway dresser out of.  The photo has gone poof, but it would have had the look of this on it's big, deep drawers.

So, when the Mr. said "good condition, clean, good price buy it" I might have whined a minute about how it had 2 layers of badly done 'faux wood' paint on it, or how hard it is to make them look "pretty".  In the end I caved and boy am I glad now.  I was inspired by some artists who had taken vintage paint by numbers and blown them up on feature walls.  How cool!!  Why not try it on a nice flat front dresser?  And guess what, I had one of those.  Sweet!

I will say this is not for a piece if you want instant gratification!  I had to sand off the old 'faux wood' finish, fill in where someone had added hardware (actual hand pulls are built in under the drawers),prime the front and top, and hand draw from a picture of a vintage paint by number piece to begin with.  

As you can see by the detail photo there is a lot of color changing and squiggly lines in a paint by number.

I used primarily craft paints for the detail work, and yes if you look closely you will see all the 'texture' that I remember getting when I used to make a Paint by Number master piece!

It really was rather soothing work, and completed off and on in between other commission jobs.

I pulled the design up and over the waterfall top.  Because I love teetering on a step stool while balancing a paint tray, brush, and water!  Actually I'm glad I did so I could capture more sky and tree top.

The drawer fronts and top were coated with protective poly coats.  The sides and trim are painted Old Ochre and finished with a wax coat for a neutral vintage look.  Talk about a statement piece in a room!!

When I catch my breath you will likely see some more paint by number effects on some pieces.  It's an addiction I tell you!  And I have to say, that I'll never turn my nose up at another waterfall piece again!

Have a great weekend!

Deb

P.S.  Forgot to add the "in progress" photo, but thought some of you might enjoy seeing it.

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