Antique Empire in Chappel Green by Farrow & Ball

I found this empire dresser on FB and asked my hubby if he would pick it up on his way home from a job he had out of town.  He was sweet enough to agree and brought it home and put it in the garage.  When I saw the listing on FB it said it was in excellent condition.  Well, let me tell you, my definition of excellent condition is NOT the same as some other people's!  

It needed a lot of work and I actually spent all of yesterday prepping it.  The condition of the piece did help me decide what direction to go with it though.  I'm guessing it's about a 100 years old by the way the drawers were put together and it was definitely showing it's age.  It's structurally sound, but the veneer had some issues.  I always take several things into consideration when deciding to remove veneer and one of them is what do I believe is underneath.  I knew this one was iffy so I decide to patch parts of the veneer and then just leave the rest as it was.  I actually like how little chips look when they are painted and distressed.  Because of the veneer I also decided to heavily distress this one and I love the way it looks!

 BEFORE

 AFTER

I recently did a vintage server in Chappel Green from Farrow & Ball and loved the color, so I knew right away it was going on this dresser.  But, I just love an empire and wanted the top two drawers to be special.  I originally was going to leave them wood because they are gorgeous mahogany veneers.  I just used some hemp oil on them without staining and they were really dark (mahogany is naturally a dark wood).  It made the dresser look top heavy and I didn't like it.  I had picked up this vintage looking floral a few weeks ago and thought it would be perfect for this piece. 

Isn't it precious!  Sigh...

This piece had a lot of "alligator skin" on it and I love how it looks when the paint is rubbed through it.  

 This is the natural top with nothing on it but 3 coats of hemp oil.  It is stunning.

Is there anything I don't love about this pic?  Nope!  The hardware, the paper, the color, the keyhole, and the wood top.  It doesn't get better than this.

This is the fabric that it is going in the drawers (*knock on wood...why does it seem like it takes me twice as long to do anything anymore?)

Would love to know what you think!  She's for sale for $295.00!