I’d been itching to use Fusion’s White Stain & Finishing Oil as a Liming finish, and when I came across this previously stripped antique yellow pine dresser, I knew I had found the perfect piece! The previous owners had it professionally “dipped” to strip off the existing paint with every intention of refinishing it. That’s a familiar prelude for many of us! After years of sitting and moving from residence to residence, they finally needed it out of the way. By then, it was quite musty, battered, and generally “rough”. A liming finish would seal and protect it, but also highlight it’s character rather than try to mask it.
The overall construction was fantastic, but definitely “rustic”.
Fusion’s Stain and Finishing Oil (SFO) is a penetrating oil stain that soaks into the grain, in addition to an oil-based topcoat to seal and protect. Stain and Sealing in One step!
To use SFO on raw wood, I simply brushed it on, let it penetrate the wood for a few minutes, and then wiped back the excess. Below you can see the process and half of the drawer wiped back with one coat. I decided this was still too yellow, so I simply waited a day for it to dry, and then applied a second coat – brush on/wipe off.
Below, you can see the difference one coat makes on the drawer front and the dresser top.
Now for that musty smell…every single interior surface got a generous shellacking! Shellac is the only surefire way to seal smells away from your belongings. The important part about sealing musty dressers is to brush or spray shellac on the underside, interior, exterior of each drawer (every side but the front) in order to completely trap odors away. The interior body of the dresser should also be sprayed or brushed because it can also trap smells.
Here is the finished piece after it’s second coat. It was That Simple! One step Stain & Finishing Oil and a bit of shellac! It was a great way to update and bring out some of the details while preserving the character of this piece.
This piece found its new home quite a while ago, but we have more unique refinished pieces available on our Facebook page Furniture Albums and our Online Store
Fusion’s Stain & Finishing Oil comes in a variety of stains to highlight and show off your wood grain. SFO Colors
If you haven’t yet tried painting with milkpaint, it’s a must-try! It is capable of such a variety of finishes; a solid stain on raw wood, a solid rustic finish using binder, and a chippy farmhouse look – it’s so much fun! Lakeside Restoration and Vintage Matters will be offering milkpaint workshops in February, so keep an eye out on the events page on Facebook for your chance to play 
True to it’s milkpaint roots, this color mix also distressed beautifully and chipped where we had strategically pre-applied a light wax before painting. 
After making and adding a wood latch to pull the warped door in further, it was time to seal the exterior with hemp oil and paint the shelves with durable Fusion Raw Silk to create a clean and inviting space for storage.
After all, I have spent many, many years behind a desk studying, reading, writing, working… and now, refinishing and reinventing them! Did I mention – I really love a good desk!
