Dresser Reimagined
I suspect we all know someone – or we are that someone – with an older piece of furniture that looks tired and dated.
Some older pieces are cool, vintage, nostalgic. Others really aren’t that great to look at, and while they may still be functional, the items just don’t “bring us joy” (if we’re embracing Marie Kondo’s mindset).
Before
The dark and heavy wooden dresser in the photo above is a dresser from the 1970’s. At first glance, the dresser doesn’t appear to be anything special (especially sitting on top of two mechanics creepers in a garage). The owner of the dresser was ready to give it away and just wanted it “gone.”
When I learned the dresser was going to be donated or dumped, I asked if I could take it off the owner’s hands and refurbish it. The owner happily donated it to me and even offered to let me work on the dresser in his garage.
He seemed really interested in what I was going to do with the old dresser – and more importantly, he also seemed completely convinced there was no way it wouldn’t still be a big, heavy piece that looked dated and old.
“What do you like about this dresser anyway,” the owner asked me one day when I was removing the hardware.
“Well, not the hardware,” I smiled and replied.
“Do you see the detailed design at the bottom of the dresser?” I asked him as I pointed.
He nodded.
“When I paint this dresser white, that detail is going to pop,” I said.
In Progress
He folded his arms and continued to watch while I unscrewed more hardware. Then I proceeded to unscrew the hinges on the set of double doors on the lower left side of the dresser.
“You taking the doors off to paint them?” the owner asked.
I wasn’t sure whether to be amused or annoyed by the owner’s questions and presence while I worked, but since I agreed to keep the dresser in his garage to work on it, I guess I ran the risk of supervision and inquiry, so I grinned, and said, “Nope.”
“I’m going to leave the doors off and use a little wood filler in the hinge holes before I paint,” I told him.
Reader, it’s difficult to see in the photos, but the dresser drawers in the bottom left (shamefully covered by doors!) have a built-in curve for your hand to pull the drawers open. Those two bottom drawers are beautiful and showcase great craftsmanship!
After
After I lightly sanded the top and sides of the dresser, I noticed that the drawer fronts were in pretty good shape and had a slight shine or gloss to them. For whatever reason, I found myself not wanting to paint the drawer fronts. So, instead, I cleaned them up.
“Wow… that doesn’t look at all like the same dresser,” the owner said. “I could not see your vision and really had my doubts.”
While two-tone, white and wood, was not my initial vision, the owner’s reaction to the contrast of the light and dark let me know I’d made the right decision.
Choosing new hardware for a piece of furniture can be a tricky decision. Since I had a buyer in mind for the refurbished piece, I showed her the dresser without hardware to see if she wanted to be part of that process. The new owner said that the dresser leaned more traditional, so she wanted slim modern hardware to “mix things up.”
So, I let the client pick the sleek silver handles, and the terrific thing about hardware is that it’s easy and inexpensive to change if you don’t like it or get tired of it later!
The client and I styled the dresser and personalized it with some of her favorite things – a record player, albums, plants, an open shelf, art, and a vintage mirror above. This same client recently found a small record cabinet that was going to be thrown away. Read another blog post, Record Cabinet Reno, about that fun project!
