From Broken Down to Fabulous: A New Life for a Dresser

This little piece was actually a find from my friend Jesse (who's also a furniture junkie, like myself). She found this little sad guy at a garage sale and he was just calling out for a makeover. Jesse decided to give me a chance to beautify this piece. Many years had taken it's toll on this little dresser. The bottom drawer was completely gone, only a drawer face remained. One of the drawers needed an entire face lift because the wood was cracking and had been hot glued back together by a previous owner.

Here it is before:

When Jesse texted me a picture of this bad boy, I immediately got excited by the possibilities and I jumped on the chance to bring this guy home. I feel in love with the original wooden knobs, the serpentine front of the top drawers and the beautiful top which had many years worth of character etched into it.

This dresser sat in my garage for a couple of months. I knew it was going to take a lot of work to bring this ugly duckling to life. I finally decided to take the plunge. My husband helped me build a bottom shelf while I sanded down the rough edges. I wanted to preserve the beauty of the top so I sanded it down and restained it in a Dark Walnut stain. I used Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Country Gray for the body of the dresser and painted the inside of the drawers with the color Provence. After applying the first coat of clear wax, I sanded the edges to add some character. I then used a dark wax on the drawer fronts only to give it an antique look.

I am in awe of how this baby turned out. I'm placing her in my kitchen eating area to add some much needed kitchen storage. I love that I can put a basket or two on the bottom shelf to hold even more items. This is by far my favorite piece yet. I just love it!

Have a crafty week,
Shara