Tag refinished dresser

I found another dresser with a decent frame on Craigslist. Yes, I check out the listings every few days for cheap, sturdy furniture that I can refinish and hopefully sell. Here is the original photo posted to Craigslist.

I really like the tiered look, the two sections and the cute cut-out by the legs. Not a bad shape and I think the clean lines will make this a nice canvas for something a bit more wacky and fun than I normally do. I want to treat this basically like a canvas of wood that happens to have drawers instead of a dresser to paint on. It is going to need some new hardware, and it looks like the second-to-last drawer has a chunk missing that I’ll have to replace, but all in all not bad for $30 bucks! I pick it up tomorrow so we’ll see if it was a good buy.

TOMORROW HAS ARRIVED:

The lady I bought it from was moving to NYC and had to part with her dresser. It was smaller than I thought, but better construction than anticipated. I took it home with the help of a rented Zippy Shell and primed the base. It looks a bit French with the white primer and the base cut. I think I’ll play that up a bit and go with a vintage French-inspired look that pays homage to their national drink: wine.

Next, I plan on trying something entirely new. I plan on trying to stencil in more design using a Martha Stewart stencil and some joint compound. Sounds risky! But if this doesn’t work I can easily sand the ol’ girl down and try again. I think a bit of flare will add to the elaborate cut along the base and give it a more overall French feel. I hope my French buddies out there aren’t rolling their eyes. Sorry if this is the equivalent to painting cowboy hats and hamburgers all over a dresser in France and calling it American.

Believe it or not I found some awesome Oops! paint at Home Depot (I love that they do that!) and it was about the exact color I was looking for anyways (ivory). Bought a liter for under $2 instead of the anticipated $14. Sweet. Then I scrapped the whole idea with the joint compound and texture and instead painted the French label right on the ivory paint. It didn’t look quite finished…. so I did the top and tiers in black to pull in some contrast. I can’t speak French, but I think this is some kind of a vintage perfume label. I just loved the lines.

Alas, the white was too stark and I was always planning on an antique finish, so here that is below!

The light is catching the protective layer of poly I put over the antiquing, but it isn’t all shiny when indoors. That is just a super bright, sunny North Carolina morning.

Finally, a close up of the label and antiquing. Now, to slap on some hardware and call it good!

Okay, the hardware is on. I went with an aged, antique brass look with simple knobs for the top two drawers and pulls for the remainder. I was originally hoping to have simple black knobs but it looked too Gothic, so I dated it even more with brass. Here are the final photos!

Total cost for this project: Dresser $30; paint and paint supplies (stencil and compound) $14; hardware: $32=$76.00. Asking price: $310.

You can find this dresser for sale at Melange, in Winston-Salem, NC. See my other items on Etsy at Fernweh Originals or visit my Facebook Page, Fernweh Originals.

Well, like many Americans with time on their hands I’ve gotten into the upcycle trend of taking crap and making it treasure. It’s a fun past-time and I am enjoying feeling a bit green and hippie while producing hipster furniture. Naturally, like all hipster wannabes, I’m blogging about my masculine foray into woodwork.

Here is a before and after shot of a $20 old sewing table I refinished (ahem, upcycled) into a Chinese end table. The original singer sewing machine is still in it’s red belly, mocking me for my total lack of understanding of the realm of sewing. I had planned to rip it out and put in a bar (something I am very familiar with) but I couldn’t be arsed in the end to remove what little history remained in this piece.

Below are some photos of the next hipster project I undertook. I had an old three-drawer dresser loitering about in my guest bedroom, looking pathetic and scratched a bit to hell. So, I did what any hipster would do and primed it white. Here is the photographic evidence.

And then some photographic evidence of the priming project. Naturally, I took the photo with my smartphone. Anyways, here is the same dresser, primed and ready for paint!

The next phase is to spend about a week on Pinterest eyeballing other hipster’s projects and to (hopefully) pick a look I love and then try to copy it and claim credit for the concept. I’ll upload more photos of my upcycle project as it progresses.

This novice needs an overpriced locally-produced, organically handcrafted, fair-trade brew to consume while searching for the perfect paint color for my hipster dresser. Be back soon with pictures of the final project

_______(MUCH LATER)________

Okay ladies and gents, I know you have all been eagerly awaiting a picture of the final project. Here it is! It went peacock blue with a black antique glaze finished with a lacquer to give it some shine (and protect it from my birds, cat, dog and toddler).