Dresser/Media Center

About a month ago I was yard saling and not having any luck.  It was one of those days that turns out to be very disappointing because so many of the yard sale adds said they had all kinds of furniture, and they didn't.  In fact the old microwave cart that they called "lots of furniture", didn't even look good to me.  Anyway I was about to head home when my daughter called and asked me if I could go look at a chair she had seen on Craigslist.  She gave me the address and it was only a couple of streets from where I was at.  The chair turned out to be not exactly like it looked on Craigslist and I knew she wouldn't be happy with it.   But this little beauty was in the corner of this garage with a couple other pieces of furniture and the lady was selling all of it.  I got this at an unexpected stop...

Thank you sweet daughter!  I grabbed her up for a really good price and was happy the rest of the day.  Funny how a good deal can make your whole day better.  About three weeks later I started working on it.  I knew I wanted to do it either in black or white.  I could see this being a dresser or a media center, so the black was really pulling me it's way.  But a white dresser would really be pretty too.  White won out!    I first sanded it which was really easy because it was just stained, not sealed.

After sanding and priming  I gave it two coats of Glidden Swiss Coffee.  I discovered when I did my last project that Glidden's satin paint isn't completely satin.  They make their paint in between an eggshell and satin.  On the can of paint it says, eggshell/satin.  It's a really nice finish but doesn't have as much gloss as even a satin does.  Just a heads up to you if you're looking for a little more shine.  I put new hardware on her and along with the paint and she looks completely different.

I have found the plastic lined table cloths that you get at the dollar store work so good to protect the floor.  They are thicker then the plastic paint covers you buy at the paint stores.  What do you think, didn't it turn out nice?

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                                                                        Sandi

Do It Right the First Time

My hubby really supports me in what I enjoy doing, which is refinishing furniture.  He also know's that sometimes it's hard to find furniture that I can fix up.   Well a couple of weeks ago he was out of town and came across this dresser and a desk, (I'll show you the desk in a later postiing).  It was really sweet of him, especially since he was in his small car and to get the dresser home he had to put a blanket down and attach it to the roof of  his car.  Let me tell you, he got horrible gas milage, and I really had to scrub to get the bugs off the top of that dresser!  I wouldn't have bought this dresser to fix up because of the laminant on the top and the condition the drawers were in.  They didn't have glides on them and I know how hard it is to find the right one's some times.  Take a look at her.

I decided to jump in and see if I could finish it in couple of hours, I knew what I was going to do with it after staring at it for a long time.  The drawers are wood but the top had laminate on it, I knew I needed to sand every thing...or did I?  My thought process went something like this.  "You know you need to sand the top or else it won't stick",  "no, they make primer and paint so good that you won't need to".  "You'll be sorry if you don't sand",  "no, it'll work".   And so it went until I talked myself out of sanding, which, I knew better the whole time I was doing it.  Here's the headache I had to clean up just for trying to skip a step.

After it dried really good I ran my finger nail over it and it peeled right off.  Yep, I knew that would happen, why did I do it?  Hubby suggestd that I just lay a wet cloth on it since it is latex paint and that I would be able to scrape it right off.  Look how good that worked, I almost didn't need the scrapper.  So I was back to square one except for the rest of it was painted white and looked really nice.  I did discover that I really like the top in a dark color rather then white like the rest of it.  So I decided to use AS Graphite paint, (I know, I know, no sanding needed).  It went on great and I finished it off with just the right shade of color to match the distressing

On the drawers I decided to lightly paint over the scrolling that was on them so they would show through really good.  I replaced the little knobs, which were really understated, with these that make a statement.  The top, handles, and distressed area match really good in color, I was really pleased that it turned out like that.  I also painted the kick board in the graphite as well.

I'm not sure you can tell, but I really like how that looked.  I used Glidden paint in satin, the color is a soft white called Swiss Coffee.  It looks kind of bright here but it's actually a soft, warm, white.  To finish the project I used Min Wax rub on poly on the top and the kick board.  It doesn't look anything like the dresser he brought home, does it?

 

My Hubby did really good by choosing this one, it has turned out to be one of my favorites.

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Not Mellow Yellow

About a month ago I was at an estate sale.  It was a really good one except the good stuff was already sold.  I'd walk by a dresser that I really wanted only to see the "sold", sign on it.  You get your hopes up and then they're smashed.  There were two stories to the house so I had fun looking around, but, I went to get something!  Do you ever feel that way, like you're really missing out if you don't get something?  Well I did see something that I liked the legs on it, in fact thats all I really liked.  So I bought it, yeahhhh I got something.  Then I got in the car and looked at it again and asked myself, "what are you going to do with that"?  You'll see what I mean.

That door laying in it, well it belongs to some other piece of furniture, not this one.  I don't really even think the legs are that great.... okay I got caught up in the moment.  Since that door doesn't go with it I guess I will have to fill the two groove's on the bottom with wood glue, where a door should go to slide back and forth.

As you can see I decided to paint it yellow.  I have always loved the color yellow but have never had the opportunity to use that color on furniture for my house, it wouldn't fit in too good.  But I threw caution to the wind and decided to go for it.  I started to really like my little night stand/old fashioned record holder/box with legs.  What ever you call it, I like it, and I found a use for it

In my craft room I had these things and more (I didn't want to clutter it up for the picture) just sitting on the floor.  So I decided that that room needed this bright, happy, stand.  It did turn out good and goes well with the colors that are already in that room as you can see.  I don't feel the five dollars spent on it was wasted at all.



I painted it inside and out with Valspar satin latex in the sample size at Lowe's, my favorite store ever.  Good thing I got the sample size because I got two other one's before I got the one I used.  I will make good use of the other samples eventually.  I was going to glaze it but decided to leave it fresh and bright.  It turned out to be a fun little project.

My Girly Dresser

I went to pick a dresser up the other day that I had seen on Craigslist, and you know how pictures just don't tell the whole story about the piece, right?  The lady took me out in the garage to show me the dresser, which was hard to see because of all the other "stuff" in the garage.  When I finally spotted the dresser I first noticed the little flowers that were around the "missing knobs".  The whole dresser was painted a really awful brown, but I kept going back to the little flowers, and thinking to myself how cute they would look on a little girls dresser.  Sorry I don't have a before picture of the drawers, but you get the idea.

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It wasn't until I had paid for the dresser and was loading it in the car that I realized that the top wasn't real wood.  The fake looking wood grain on it is like what you see on a lot of interior doors.  I was really bummed because I didn't think that I could sand it down, like what I was wanted to do.  So it sat around longer then a project usually does while I decided what to do with it.

I decided to go a head with making it into a girls dresser like I had envisioned it.  So I primed it with Valspar primer and then lightly sanded it.  Years ago I was given a handy tip, if you have a brown paper sack you can use that for your sand paper on the coats of paint that you just want knocked down a bit.

  So that's what I used, and it worked great.  I then went to Walmart and got a can of Krylon spray paint for the drawer fronts, and of course the paint was pink.

I sprayed, probably five times to get this color.  I think I had to do it so many times because of the finish on the fronts (not sure what it was), I'm thinking that it might have been some kind of plastic because the flowers were also a part of the drawer front.  My hubby helped me fix a broken slide on one of the drawers, which was a headache to fix.  I bought the  little white knobs over at the Restore, three for a dollar.  I really love that place and try to use them as often as I can, it saves me money and also the money they make goes to a great cause.

It turned out just like I wanted it to.  It was fun doing a project that was a girly, girl, one.  Now I can't wait to find something that inspires me to do it specifically for a boy.

This is after adding poka dot shelf liner in pastel pinks and a rag quilt I made for my grandkids.  And of course a favorite buddy of theirs.