I found this hippo on Highway 25 while on a bike ride and was shocked to see someone left this out for garbage day. I sprinted home on my bike and yelled for the wife to help me lift this in the back of the truck. Once there we tried to lift it with the drawers in but this hippo was HEAVY. After pulling all the drawers out we got it in my truck. A few days later we put it in the garage and decided to keep it there so I could strip it outside.
Looking it over I was surprised that this piece was in such good shape. Some of the sliders and hardware needed replacing but outside of that, it was in great condition.
The first step was to strip the piece since the topcoat and stain were flaking. After that, I replaced some of the sliders and tightened some of the wood. Lastly some wood filler was used in some spots and then sanded.
Initially I wanted to keep it classic in Ash or Coal Black MFP or your traditional white which for me is a bit tiring. Since it is a non commission piece, I said what the heck and decided to gamble with my colour selection. I was feeling blue for this piece but the problem was I had 3 different shades but none were enough to finish the piece entirely. This lead me to make a magic batch with all the blues I had. With a 1/2 jar of Seaside Blue, a 1/4 jar of Midnight Blue and a 1/4 jar of Liberty Blue I present to you my custom batch of "Chloe-Bear Blue" named after my daughter. To be honest, I love the colour and see more mixing in my future.
The next quandary was do I black wax this, glaze it or drybrush? I opted to drybrush as I had a specific vision and liked how I can could control the outcome much easier. The other decision I made was to pull the door off the middle drawer to open things up. Since I was going to drybrush the piece with Ash, I thought I would paint the cubby hole and shelf Ash to pull everything together.
As per usual, I stained the top in Dark Walnut and added 3 coats of Tung Oil for protection. After 3 coats of my custom paint, drybrusing the entire piece I added a coat of homemade, foodgrade beeswax for protection.
Since the piece was missing some original hardware, I grabbed some leftover knobs from my inventory and matched them with the existing pulls on the lower drawers. After cleaning the hardware, they were refinished in matte black to finish off the piece.
I love this piece and am happy I made the choice to go blue and do the drybrushing. Once I decided blue was my colour, the vision took shape rather quickly.
If you want a timeless piece that is modern, yet rustic, this is the piece for you. Although it is technically a sideboard/buffet with lined top drawers, I see this being a very versatile piece. I think this hippo is hungry to find a new home.
Please see before and after pics.
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Dimensions: 44"Hxw64"Lx20"D
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