Silver leaf dresser

Materials: Edland dresser, silver (aluminum) leaf, gilding size, varnish, wooden knobs, paint

Description: I've needed a new dresser for a long time, and a mirrored one at that. Since I didn't want to buy one, I decided to make my own variation, inspired by this.

So I got my Ikea Edland dresser, and after carefully applying the Gilding Size (the adhesive that goes on milky but turns clear in about 1/2 hour, when it's ready for the leaf), I applied the silver leaf. It took a looong time (I figure I spent a good 40 hours on this project). After the leaf was applied, I used clear varnish (acrylic gloss medium works as well, as I found out when I ran out of varnish). For the heavy use area, I used 4 coats.

I originally intended on buying sparkly glass knobs, but decided to be more eclectic and bought wooded knobs from Home Depot. I painted them aqua, then applied just a bit of the leaf.

~ Morgan S, Cincinnati