Black Distressed Chest of Drawers and Bookcase

I'm on a roll!!!!!  Two posts in less that 24 hours.  I know you are grabbing your heart Fred Sanford style at the amazement of it all.  :-)

I recently re-vamped a couple of pieces for a friend.  This girl has an eye for decorating that is beyond description!  Her house is simply gorgeous so I was quite flattered that she asked me to paint a chest of drawers and bookcase for her little boy's room, which she is in the process of redecorating. 

Here's what they looked like before. 

The chest of drawers had been previously painted white and lived in her daughter's room.  The bookcase had a coat of gray primer when I picked it up.  Stephanie wanted them painted black and distressed.  Distressed is always best when living in a room with an 8 year old boy!!! 

So, I got to work.  First step was to strip the white paint off the chest.  I believe it had been painted with floor paint, and while durable, it had a texture that I wasn't digging. 

Kinda gross, don't ya' think?  Stripping paint has to be one of the messiest jobs there are but this stuff is a miracle in a can!!!!  After getting the old paint off, I sanded her down to get a nice smooth surface.  Then I applied "Gripper" primer and then flat black paint. 

Then some distressing along all the beautiful lines to make them really stand out. 

I used the same technique on the bookcase.  Because the two pieces were different wood species, the distressing didn't match and I DEFINITELY wasn't digging on that!!!!  So, I applied Cherry stain with a Qtip to all of the distressed areas on both pieces.  The last step was two coats of wipe-on Poly.  I LOVE that stuff!!!!!  It's easy as pie to apply and it gives a hand rubbed finish. 

I took them back to their home yesterday and Stephanie was THRILLED with the results which made my heart smile.  I'm always nervous when working on other's furniture but I was a little extra nervous on these because she has such beautiful taste.  So, when she was so happy with them, I wanted to do the happy dance right then and there!!! 

I'll leave you with before and afters side by side.  I have seen others post their pics this way and I loved it because I could truly appreciate the before and after.  SO, I was quite impressed with myself when I figured out how to do this!!   

Hope y'all have a wonderful Sunday!  We are having some beautiful weather again here in SC so I'm going to get busy today sanding several pieces.  Then, when the weather turns cold, I can pull something out and paint inside.  I'm getting smarter about this stuff!!!!!  :-)