Recycled Brown Paper Bag Dresser

In an effort to keep the brood fed and clothed I have been re-doing vintage furniture and making jewelry to sell at farmers markets for years, its lots of fun....especially if you have a hoarder gene like I do... and it allows a parent to always be available when the kids need one.  Even if said parent is constantly covered in paint, saw dust, and acrylic sealer!

Here is one of my pieces that makes use of recycled paper bags!  First the before, a thrift store find that was really hideous.

 



 

Thick brown latex over orange over who knows what.... no hardware, yuck....but I'm kinda a furniture visionary,  I could sense its inner beauty.  OK, just kidding... it was super cheap, but well built; ugly but quality bones,  I can work with that. 

If I was one of those awesome bloggers that documents everything with amazing pictures I would now show you the pictures of stripping all the gunk off, sanding, priming and repairing.

Then I would have some great pictures of a stack of brown paper shopping bags before they are torn up and soaked in acrylic medium and carefully applied to the dresser.

Next I would have pictures of the special paint that has iron grindings in it that I then oxidize to create the rusted trim.

Finally there would be pictures of my stockpile of vintage drawer pulls that I rummaged through to select the eclectic mix of mismatched pulls on the chest. 

But, I'm not that cool yet so I'll just skip to the finished product

A recycled brown paper bag dresser, with rusted trim and eclectic pulls.  Seriously, a buyer from Anthropology should discover me!

 

 

 



I love how the paper almost looks like leather, and the rust makes it look kinda industrial.   I will have this piece at the Fremont Sunday market this week!  Thanks for looking!