Farmhouse Style- A Welsh dresser Revamp

Our house is old. Some of our interior walls used to be exterior-particularly in the kitchen. The old, stone walls never really got the memo about being upgraded to inside walls and we have a bit of a damp problem on one wall in the kitchen.

In hindsight, we should have had a radiator installed there to try and dry it out but, when we moved in and it was all freshly plastered, we didn’t realise there was an underlying problem.

The wall in question has been a number of colours. It was powder blue when we moved in (the other walls were cream) and all was well.

A year or so after, wet circles started to appear on that wall. I likened them to crop circles. I decided to paint the wall red. It was very eye catching and, for a time, the damp was cured.

Not for long though, The circles came back-sometimes in the same place, sometimes in different places and even a few more coats of paint to make the wall cream again didn’t help.

Last October, I decided to decorate the whole room. Our kitchen is used heavily so it was time and I opted for a powder blue which I hoped would give the room a Cath Kidston feel.

I was pregnant with the baby so I decided to treat myself to a decorator to do the job for me. He came and painted and said he had treated our weird wall and that it should do the trick.

It did but only for a short time and then the circles were back with a vengeance and this time, the paint flaked off too.

I had had enough. It was time to do something.

Now I know at this point, many people would get in an expert but I have a history of plastering over interior problems with photo frames and other decorative items so this time, I turned to my old friend the dresser top.

I scoured selling sites and eventually found one locally for £20. It was quite wide which is what I wanted to cover as much wall as possible.

The farmer sawed the bottom off because I think it had originally been designed to sit on a bottom piece but, being over our kitchen table, that wouldn’t have worked.

I had grand plans to sand it down and paint it myself but alas, with two children and another growing, I never seemed to find the time.

Thankfully, my friend came to the rescue and offered to paint it for me.

We used a Rust-Oleum Chalky Finish furniture paint in clotted cream and I am so glad we did. The cream is so rich and it looked so much like clotted cream that I had to keep the paint away from the children for fear they would have a lick.

The finished dresser looked amazing.

It always astounds me how a lick of paint can transform a piece of furniture. It looks completely different.

Next came the exciting part-working out what to put on it.

I was very precious at first but as time has gone on, more pieces have migrated over there. I love dressers to be busy places, crammed full of treasures and much loved items.

I am so pleased with my dresser top and, while the crop circled may not have been cured, at least I no longer have to look at them every day.

That is good enough for me.