Brown Paper Bag Technique

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This is a great way to update or upcycle an old outdated or damaged dresser.

Check out this old vanity I picked up at one of our local Thrift stores. If you look closely you can see that it was marked $10.01. They have the strangest pricing system, like $3.03, $2.02, etc. Anyway, because of that cute little yellow X, I got it for 75% off! Yeppers! That’s right! A scant $2.50.

Here you can see the front of it. It was nearly naked, not a lot of sanding or stripping to do on this little gem. What you can NOT see is that the veneer on all sides is in very poor condition.

I decided to paint it an antique white with the hopes of it looking shabby chic….but mostly it just looked shabby.

The weather turned a little cold, so I had to resort to working indoors in the kitchen. You are not a true t2t person if you have never painted and decoupaged a vanity in your kitchen. The brown sides and drawer fronts are done with the “brown paper bag technique”.

Insert short tutorial here:

MATERIALS NEEDED
brown paper bag (or craft paper)
Elmer’s white glue
some type of stain (I used old english for scratches)
polyurethane

Rip the paper into varying sizes. Crumple up the paper, straighten out slightly. Decoupage onto your piece of furniture.

After the Elmer’s glue dries, rub lightly with stain (this will highlight the high points)

seal with poly

I decided I didn’t like the brown paper on the antique white, so I decided to mix up my own color of brown. NOPE, I liked the brown less than the antique white color.

Finally after several days of thinking about it, I decided to paint it black! It was a long process, but for $2.50, it was a great deal!

gail