Country Style, Painted Furniture, Repurposed Furniture, resale finds, Style, The Garagemahal, the suburban home, Thrifty decorating, vintage style

The Finished Funky Dresser

Painting furniture in the Garagemahal during a southeast Texas winter is tough. It is either too cold or too humid to dream of painting. I usually take on smallish projects that I can finis in the house during winter. This fall I found a dresser that I wanted to turn into an unusual entertainment center. It was $20.00 at Huntsville Goodwill. It is a 1950’s wooden dresser that probably went in a boy’s room.

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I had been looking for something to turn into a funky dresser after finding this dresser a year ago at the Mainstreet America Christmas home tour.  It was over a thousand dollars but it was so cool.

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The dresser was originally destined for my brother in law and sister in law’s  new house near us. It took me so long to surprise them with the piece done that they already bought a beautiful entertainment center out of whiskey barrel oak.

I wasn’t sure what I would do with it at this point, until I sanded the top corner. There it was: “I love e b”. My hubby’s first and middle name begins with e and b. ( In his family he goes by Eddie Ben.)  I knew it would have to be something that would end up with us.

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I struggled with what to do with each drawer and redid three of the drawers at least twice, one of them three times.

I determined that I did not want to spend much on this project. I have a large collection of hardware, a pile of paint and everything needed to give the wood a weathered finish like the inspiration piece. A bonus is that the colors on the piece will be colors I already like and have in my home.

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What you see above is just a small sample of the hardware I have. Notice how many of the pieces I photographed I actually used in the final shot.

Saturday afternoon the skies cleared, the humidity dropped and I had about two hours to work.

The dresser went from looking like this Saturday …

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To this by mid-day, Sunday.

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I glazed the turquoise because it was a little too bright for the rest of the piece after this photo and I added  a license plate and some letters.  I am not sure it is finished but it is coming along.

Soon, I will tell you where I hope it gets to go.

Here are a few close up shots I took after adding the license plate from 1969 that we found in the dirt at my husband’s family farm.  The numbers are the year of his birth and the S  is our last name initial.

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Did you notice I used a different license plate than what I pulled originally?  I decided that I wanted to use the one with browns and yellows.  It is great that I have options.  I collected quite a few plates from my husband’s farm.

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I love it.  I am proud that I did this almost all by myself.  I cut trim, drilled holes, selected colors, and rethought it when I wasn’t happy.  I did have a meltdown on the white bottom corner “drawer” (it is actually one long drawer made to look like two) and had to get help on that one.  I could not get the trim to line up.  Thanks, Hubby.

All in all I have less than $10.00 in supplies in the dresser along with the $20.00 investment for the dresser I think it turned out well.

Funky Dresser dresser with different drawer colors painted mulitcolored dresser

I have a random bunch of french provincial hardware that I would love to do a little girl’s dresser with one day.  The possibilities are exciting.

Thanks for reading my blog.

I would love to hear what you think about my funky dresser.

Blessings,

Karen

Behr Paint with Primer, DIY Projects, Dresser, recycled furniture, Thrifting

My Next Projects

Disclaimer.  This post is really my “to do” list.  It will help me to stay on track and will offer you a tiny glimpse into my teeny tiny mind.  I have  four five projects that are hanging out waiting to go to homes. The projects are really bugging me because at this time of year my energy just about all goes to opening the school year and my creative side gets neglected.

Here are the five pieces I have planned, lined up and started:

The Mid Century Dresser– I will finish this week. Drawers are stripped and sanded, ready for stain and poly. Dresser needs to be sanded, primed, painted, and poly-ed.

The dresser is going to join the night stand and headboard I already have finished. My friend has been very patient.

This is my inspiration piece for the bedroom set.

 

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Here is the night stand waiting for the dresser to join the party.

Beverage Station– we have the sewing machine out, the mechanism taken care of but we are struggling to find a sink that fits.

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This one has been tricky.  The machine has been removed, the hardware has been stabilized and we have a plan.  It is going to be Happy Camper Green with oil rubbed bronze spray paint on the metal parts.  This one needs lots of wood filler and outdoor poly to make it usable outside.

Sweet Little Girl Dresser– I got the hardware off, the dresser and drawers sanded. I am looking for two drawer pulls that match the original or we may have to re-think the pulls. It will be painted next weekend.
 

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It is going to be Behr Gray Area with a whitewash over it.
 

The Funky Dresser

Here is my inspiration dresser.  I have had this picture in the back of my mind every time I look for furniture.  I wanted a flat front smallish dresser to create something fun.

 

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The inspiration dresser will work great for the funky dresser.  I have rounded up a lot of random hardware for the dresser.  The dresser will be stripped and finished to look like Restoration Hardware weathered finish.  I am going to try being creative with one of the long drawers to make it appear to be two smaller drawers.

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Another bench- yes, I have another bench to make. It is going to be different from the others.  No photos of this one.

Hutch

The final piece will be a hutch for the top of our sofa table so that I have a place to display my milk glass.

Here is the inspiration piece.

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The hutch will sit on top of this buffet table and will look like one piece.

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It is now sanded, holes are filled, and ready for priming.  The twists will stay the wood color.  The back is going to be one by four slats stained to match the wood on top of the buffet.

I am anxious to get started on the last two projects!  They are going to be like dessert for me so I am motivated to finish the rest of the list.

I hope you have a wonderful week. I love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Karen