A Little Dresser Re-Do

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...

Darling, huh? She had good bones, but had definitely 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!

 

 

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....

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

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

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:

 

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 --

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.

 

 

 

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:

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

{happy sigh}

I am so doing this again. :-)