How To Add Dried Flowers to Furniture--plus a surprise inside!
HOW TO ADD DRIED FLOWERS TO FURNITURE | AFFORDABLE DRESSER MAKEOVER | DIY PAINTED DRESSER | FLORAL DRESSER DIY
The following tutorial was written by our extremely talented guest refinisher, Kristen (@cloud_are_by_kristen.) Read on to learn how she adds dried flowers to her furniture!
This poor neglected 9 drawer dresser by Century Furniture of Distinction was purchased at a local auction and sat in my garage for almost 3 years! It was swaddled in blankets and a tarp and I used it as an extra worktable (I know, I know, what was I thinking!?) I couldn’t decide if I wanted to keep it or flip it but I knew if I chose the latter, it deserved a magical experience. The dresser was very well-loved in its previous life and was in excellent condition.
As I was cleaning it up, I began removing the drawers, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. A treasure trove of relics dating back almost 100 years sat snug as a bug in the back. Receipts and newspaper ad clippings from the 60’s, a girl scout troop roster with names, addresses and phone numbers (kinda creepy, not gonna lie) and the most exciting find of them all…but we’ll come back to that!
After snapping a few pictures of the goodies, I tried to stay focused. Before I was a painter, I was a crafter mesmerized by the millions of inspirational makers on YouTube and Tiktok.
If you’ve seen my Instagram stories, you know that my current obsession is dried flowers. A few months back, I purchased a few packs of dried flowers from Amazon that were waiting patiently to be used. I had a small wooden handmade table that I found on Marketplace and some leftover Rosemary Sprig paint by Benjamin Moore to use as my test subject.
I mixed in some BB Frösch Paint Transformer and got to work.
When the paint was completely dry, I took the table outside and sealed the top frame, where I’d be placing the flowers, with Rustoleum clear matte acrylic spray.
I ripped open my flowers and arranged them exactly how I wanted to place them on the table. I gently picked up the first one with the handy tweezers they came with and lightly spritzed it with Elmer’s glue spray. It’s the repositional formula that a lot of us use for drawer liners but since these flowers are so delicate, you will not be able to move them once they’re placed.
When I was through, I gave them about an hour to set up, sprayed them with my acrylic spray and let the table sit again for another hour.
After making sure they were 100% dry (very important since they could tear during the next step) I grabbed my container of matte Mod Podge and an artists brush. I very gently brushed and coated them with Mod Podge and gave them ample time to dry, then repeated this step.
After 2 final coats of acrylic spray sealer, refreshing the bare wood top with tung oil and waxing the painted legs and base with BB Frosch clear wax, my little bohemian country gem (can we make ‘boco’ a thing?) was complete!
The table came out much prettier than I ever expected so I was confident now that I could pull off an equally magical look on my main event!
After painting the 9 drawer dresser in Salamander by Benjamin Moore (mixed with BB Frösch Paint Transformer,) I sanded the skirt to bare wood and went to town with my flowers using the same steps as above…except I made a big mistake…and I should have known better!
When all the flowers were placed perfectly and the skirt was sealed, I took a step back and realized that I should have first lightly whitewashed the bare wood skirt before decorating it.
To my horror, the clear acrylic spray had dried the base to the dreaded orange tone! I wiped on some white wax in attempt to correct it but that just made it worse. Now it was a splotchy orange with clumps of white around the flowers. It was a hot mess so guess what I did? Yep, I sanded off every last perfect little flower. It was painful, but not as painful as the sleep I would have lost if I hadn’t.
Most of my bright and pretty flowers were gone and I only had a few left. I made a white wash by diluting white paint with water and evenly coated the skirt. When it was dry I skipped the acrylic spray step and began to add my new flowers using the spray glue.
I then gave them 2 coats of Mod Podge and sprayed with clear matte acrylic spray to seal them. The project was finally complete and it worked out for the best. I ended up liking the more neutral colored flowers that I chose for round two.
Now back to my story from the beginning about my hidden treasures! Buried under all of the papers, airline schedules, certificates of merits and a green shoulder pad from the 80s sat a pale blue box. The red and yellow letters said ‘Mickey Mouse Hankies’ and there was a small white fabric square inside embroidered with Mickey in a top hat holding a cane.
When I searched the item online, I realized that it was from the 1930s! I quickly posted it to Ebay and sold it for an obscene amount of money! So, even though I struggled a bit through my process, the reward at the end most definitely was worth it!
If you decide to add flowers to your work be sure to tag @bbfrosch & @cloud_art_by_kristen. We LOVE seeing what you do!
