See Ya Later Alligator!

I was taught many things by my late stepdad Kevin.  He was a talented furniture maker who introduced me to Shaker style furniture, Purpleheart wood, and the importance of linseed oil & furniture wax.  He never told me about alligator finish on old wood furniture, although, I'm pretty sure he knew about it.  It just never came up in conversation.  But, thanks to Dawn of Sun Baked Treasures I now know that my $5 dresser I bought this past summer has an alligatored finish much like this dresser did before Dawn made it over.

Here's a close up of exactly what it looked like.  (Now I know what to call my skin in the winter time, too.  Hehehehe...just kidding.  Not.)  

Dawn turned to her group of fellow furniture painters and they came to her rescue recommending that she use a simple kitchen degreaser.  Dawn did and it worked!  (For more details of how exactly it worked, check out Dawn's blog post on it at her Sun Baked Treasures Blog.)  

Once the old finish was removed, Dawn painted the dresser using Old Town Paints in the color Stormy Seas.  She then stained some wood embellishments she purchased at Hobby Lobby and added some metallic paint to them.  These were attached to the drawers.  Look at how nicely it ties in with the knobs.  Gorgeous.

Dawn left the top natural wood.  After some light distressing to the painted parts, Dawn applied Old Town Paints Clear Finish.  Let's take a gander at the completed piece...

That's the original mirror you see there.  Dawn's client wanted that to remain.  Think of how many reflections it has held in all of the years this piece has been standing.  That is really cool.  

Gorgeous job Dawn!  You can see more of this makeover and Dawn's work on her Sun Baked Treasures Blog.  They are based in Texas.  You have to check out the benches made out of 1970's end tables that she and her own handsome handy husband created.  Amazing.  You can also find Dawn and Sun Baked Treasures on her Facebook Page.  Head over and let her know you saw her on Furniture Flippin'.  

Thanks Dawn for sharing how to handle an Alligator finish and for sharing your fabulous furniture flip!

To the rest of you...I bet you have a piece of furniture sitting in your house that you've been thinking about making a change, too.  Well, if you do, email me a picture of it and let me ask all of the talented Furniture Flippers we know what they would do to it.  You can email me at furnitureflippin@yahoo.com .  

So concludes another episode of "As The Furniture Turns".  Tune into tomorrow when we'll discover...well, I have no idea what we'll discover.  I don't plan that far in advance.  It could be YOU!

See you then!

~ Stephanie