Chez Sheik Stenciled Dresser

I love the story behind this dresser. It introduced me to Ruthie, from the House of Rumours. Please hold this thought, as I have a feeling you will be hearing a lot about her, and the two of us in the near future. Wink wink!

I found this dresser on Craigslist and the seller was just 1 mile or so from my house, so I could not say "no" to it. As I am closing the deal in this lady's garage, her son opens the garage door and I peek through her laundry door. I like what I see. I see her signature stenciled wall and immediately fall in love with Ruthie, her house, with her furniture! I think we chatted for about an hour and completely hit it off. She is Colombian, so the Latin blood and the loud tone of the conversation must have had something to do with we liking each other but, beyond that, we had so much more in common. She is just as passionate, if not more, than I am about vintage, painted, transformed furniture and she does the whole furniture flipping/re-habing thing full time. We exchanged phone numbers and I had a feeling that was not the end of our connection.

The next day, I called her back to ask about some chairs I had seen vaguely in her garale and, that same day, I was back at Ruthie's house to pick up the chairs -- and for another one-hour chatting session. My goodnesss, the two of us can never run out of subjects to talk about! Even our text message threads go on and on forever.

We have since cultivated a shared passion, future dreams of hosting a booth together at a vintage market and dinners together with both of our family, and a casual friendship. She does amazing work and has inspired me tremendously in the pieces I have worked on in my life after-Ruthie (like this one, the move of my workshop from the garage to the house, and the very dresser I showcase in this post).

So, back to the dresser. I have had it now for almost two months and ,when I saw Ruthie' stenciled wall, I was inspired to do an stenciled piece. This was the perfect dresser for it as it had flat drawers and straight lines. Ruthie and I ordered a number of stencils from Royal Design Studio and we now have a shared pool for our future projects.

Wow, look what a little of bit of Ruthie did to me!

I love the way this dresser turned out. So crisp, elegant and modern. So Ruthie! A little bit of citrus yellow on top to add to the fresh look.

Technique: I used homemade chalk paint in Behr Navajo White on the frame, Annie Sloan French Linen on the drawers, and the homemade chalk White on the stencil pattern. I used Royal Design Studio Chez Sheik stencil, small size. I applied Valspar black glaze throughout to give it the weathered and imperfect look. One coat of clear wax throughout with some buffing. I kept the original pulls as they were so unique looking like an infinity sign, but applied a coat of Annie Sloan Graphite to them.

Price: $250.00