Dressier Dresser

Following up the coffee and tea station post a couple of days ago, I’m sharing the biggest part of the project today…the dresser!

Loooong ago when I was a teenager I had this dresser in my room at home.  After I went to college I believe it was used by my younger siblings and then finally found a home in a shed at my parent’s house—then when I moved back to Minnesota I needed a dresser for my apartment so I asked if they needed it anymore and if I could have it.  The answer was yes and it has been in my possession ever since.

However…

It has always been rather ugly.  It was a blond wood dresser (veneered) with lots of stains and some scrapes, etc.  My parents bought it used so don’t blame me!!  :)  After I got married I thought I could make it more beautiful with spray paint.  You see, I had started to read all these BLOGS and I quickly became obsessed with spray paint and all its merits (of which it has many!!).  It was my first spray paint project!!  (Cue a collective awwwww from similarly obsessed individuals…)  ; )

It did not turn out how I saw it in my head…at all.  See what I mean??



I was imagining a rich chocolate glossy brown and ended up with a reddish flat-looking unattractive color.  Project FAIL!!!!!  I then painted parts of it black to make it look better.  Trust me, it did make it look slightly better.  ; )

I fairly quickly started looking for a different dresser for our bedroom and used this one for storage in the basement.  Now, at our new house, it was just sitting out in our shed waiting for something…I’m not sure what actually!  I had no plan for it, until I realized that it could be part of a solution for our drawer deprived kitchen/dining area.

I was originally going to paint the frame white with the drawers a fresh seafoam color, but then as I looked at the dresser out in the shed I realized that the drawers themselves were actually in pretty good shape.  I decided to try to strip the paint/blond finish on them and see how the wood looked underneath, and if it was nice to stain it a nice rich brown.  The veneer on the frame itself was peeled off in some places and rather worn in others, so the frame was not something I felt competent at fixing up to a stainable finish.  Plus, the mid-century vibe this piece was sending off would look great as a two tone!

I also had to do a little more prep with this dresser because in some places the veneer was in a sorry state.



It looks pretty bad doesn’t it!!!  The spider webs from the shed don’t help it any.  I ended up removing all the veneer from this particular part of the dresser and using wood putty to make it look more smooth again. 
I quickly got to work applying the stripper to the drawer fronts and it worked its magic perfectly.  The paint bubbled up and came off with no problem at all.  Yay for spray paint!!  Easy to apply, easy to remove.  :)  I then gave the drawers a quick sand and got them ready to stain.  I used Varathane’s Antique Walnut and it was pretty easy.  They immediately started looking soooo much better!  I used Minwax’s Wipe-On Poly to seal them and give them a bit of shine.



Meanwhile, I fixed up the dresser frame (sanding it lightly everywhere and fixing the damaged veneer with wood putty (or just removing some parts of it where it wouldn’t be noticeable).  Then I used white spray primer and then white spray paint to create a glossy white finish.  I did all of this way back in November when the days got (barely!) warm enough to use spray paint in the garage.  I also painted the pulls and knobs white as I couldn’t decide on any other color and I didn’t want to wait to buy new knobs from somewhere. 
Here it is all done and being used for our coffee and tea station!



It has come a long way from the project fail it once was!

And best of all, I am enjoying the storage it has for all our coffee and tea supplies plus all the tablecloths, napkins, etc that I had never unpacked from our move this past summer!  And my husband is happy to have a little more space in the shed.  ; )

Sharing over at The Idea Room's "The Party Bunch Linky Party", Remodelaholic's Anonymous Party,  Tatertots and Jello's Link Party Palooza, Be Different Act Normal's Show and Tell,
The DIY Showoff's That DIY Party, Home Coming's The DIYers, and Vintage Revival’s Rock What Ya Got Party