Refined and Elegant Vintage

As Seen in the National Post

This beautiful dresser came to me through my cousin, who had it for years and now no longer had room for it.  Unlike so many discarded items I work with, this one was clean as a whistle inside.  The outside wasn’t actually in terrible shape, but it was in need of a little refreshing.

The dresser is solid wood and weighs just under a metric ton (ok, not that much, but it’s pretty darn heavy).

As with all pieces of this era, that shiny laminate type finish had to be sanded down to allow for new paint. 

I must admit that the top wasn’t in this kind of condition when I got it, but it’s been kicking around in the garage so long that well…. it acquired some battle scars.  Not to worry, I knew what I was going to do with it.

I sanded the top.  Make sure you’re geared up in a proper mask when sanding anything.  Don’t breathe that stuff in.  I started out with a good coarse grit sand paper to remove as much of the finish as I could.  Then I sanded with a medium grit and then finally a fine sandpaper to smooth out the surface in preparation for staining. 

The rest of the dresser was sanded with medium grit sand paper to take any shiny surfaces off.

Cover the raw wood with plastic and make sure it’s sealed good with painters tape, you don’t want any paint getting on it.  With all the drawers removed I sprayed body of the dresser in Krylon Caramel Latte paint,  (two coats.)  Drawers were painted separately.

As for the 4 large drawer fronts, I wanted either a different colour or a textured finish and with a paintable wallpaper I was able to achieve one or both of those things.

I tried 3 different looks.  White, charcoal and the same caramel latte colour as the rest of the dresser was painted.  One stood out as the clear choice.

On to hardware…

Read the comics first, then spray paint knobs and handles in Pewter.

At this point I stained the top, but forgot to take pictures.  I wanted a bold contrast between the stained top and the Caramel paint, so I opted to use Minwax Black stain, (which, by the way, is completely awesome, I’d use it again.)  I finished off with two coats of Minwax Satin Polyurethane.

This project can be seen in the National Post.  Thanks to Karen and The National Post for the awesome write up.

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Transformation Thursday Hookin Up with HOH Strut Your Stuff Thursday Time Travel Thursday Furniture Feature Friday  Show and Tell Friday Feathered Nest Friday