Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A Little Dresser Re-Do

A Diamond in the Rough

Blogging's been a little slow lately -- there are a couple of reasons for it -- one has to do with the donut quote in last Sunday's post (but more on that later), and the other is this little beauty.

For some time, I have been inspired by the many bloggers out there that take someone's trash and make it a treasure. Don't you just love those befores and afters!? Despite absolutely loving those pictures and turning pea-green with envy at their talent, I never actually tried to do a project of my own... until now.

Mr. H and I were at our local thrift store getting some books for the dictionary stand and saw this little dresser. Ooh! I could just see it on the landing at the top of my stairs...

Good bones

Darling, huh? She had good bones, but had definitely seen better days...

seen better days 

We looked her over, and found out her drawers were all wonky (normally that would be a signal to pass it by). That's probably why someone hadn't already snapped her up. But Mr. H and I felt we could handle the repair --  so, 35 bucks later, she was loaded up and coming home with us.

After reviewing several blog tutorials, getting my supplies together (and taking a deep breath), I jumped into my first attempt at finding the fabulous in the fugly!late night drawer repair

 

 

First, a little drawer repair. New drawer guides for 4.97.  Aw...look at Mr. H doing this for me late at night.... dats so sweet!

 

 

 

 

Then some sanding....

sanded down

...next comes priming... done with a white spray primer (since she was going to be painted an off-white)..

All primed up

She's looking better already! Next came painting. Here's what I chose:

the paint

The paint color is called "Innocence". Tres appropo, no? Perfect for a newbie like me. It was a creamy off-white, in an eggshell finish. Love it! I used a roller and a brush, but found I loved the smoother look of  the brush-strokes better than the texture the roller left behind. I'm learning...

Okay. Two coats.

After life intruded for a couple of days letting it dry for a couple of days, I tried my hand at antiquing my now creamy white dresser with a brown glaze, called Smoke. This one:

the glaze 

I used the "paint on the glaze and wipe it off with a slightly damp rag technique".  I decided not to glaze the whole piece, but just the nooks and crannies I wanted to highlight.  This is how it turned out --

highlighting her good points

Not too shabby for a first-timer! I L-O-V-E how the carved design pops with the warm brown glaze. I love how all her curves and woodworking details shine through now.

they match!

 

 

 

We put the original hardware back on, 'cause I just loved the worn patina.  Notice that the pulls echo the carved fleur-de-lis-thistle-thing in the top drawer? Bonus! Those pulls give her a little bit of a french twist -- oo-la-la!

 

 

 

I'm such a dork. I should've taken one more picture of the finished project while out in the garage to give you a proper look at the "after". I just couldn't wait to bring in my "ugly duckling turned swan" and put her on the landing. (Yeah, I'm like this at Christmastime, too. LOL) Here's another look at the after:

A Diamond in the Rough

...and here's what she looked like as I climbed the stairs at bedtime last night:

dresser on the landing

{happy sigh}

I am so doing this again. :-)

5 comments:

My Random Cooking Creations said...

Good Job Wendy! That looks great!

Heidi said...

Looks wonderful at the top of your stairs. What a great find and what a great job refinishing!!! Go you!!! :)

Deanna said...

Oh, my heck! It's BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! You did a fantastic job, and I think I like it better than my red chair. :) You ROCK!

P.S. - I ALSO noticed the echo of the hardware and carved design...simply fabulous, simply fabulous.

Elena said...

GREAT job!! It turned out perfect and I love where you put it!

Rebekah said...

Nice job! This is a beautiful piece of furniture and I love what you did with it. I've always wondered how to fix up a scratch and dent-- thank you for the step-by-step guide.