Something About This Old Dresser - DIY

Hey there, welcome back to Quince Cottage! We hope you're enjoying the autumn weather, wherever you may be.
Do you love to go thrifting/antiquing/junkin'? We do! If we have a specific item in mind, it's like a treasure hunt, but sometimes we go just to see what's out there, and find treasure accidentally.
Recently we were looking for a dresser for our master bedroom. The one we had was smallish, and not well-made. Ron hated it. I was kind of meh about it. Anyway, we checked our local thrift/antique stores, scoured Craigslist and local online yard sales, and a few came close. Unfortunately they were either too beat up, too big, too small, or too expensive.
Then one day we checked out a place in Raleigh that changed hands not too long ago, and a dresser caught our eye. The curvy profile, along with the wood's beautiful color and graining made us take a closer look. The drawers actually slid quite well. It wasn't missing a leg. And the price? It was pretty reasonable.

Dresser in shop © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Not wanting to make a hasty decision, we continued through the rest of the shop. And then we saw another piece.

We both had this kind of reaction...




By the way, our dog Buster is a LOT like Doug in terms of personality.

Buster © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

But I digress...

We hemmed and hawed. What should we do? Buy just one piece? If so, which one? We'd really been looking for a dresser, but maybe an armoire could take its place, if we added shelves...

Or maybe the owner would give us a great deal if we took both? We asked. He said he would. We weren't sure where the armoire would even fit anywhere in our home. Measurements were taken. We went back the next day and bought them both!
Here they are in our garage. That's the back of the armoire. Definitely a home-made piece, which is a good part of its charm.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

However, this is the dresser's story (the armoire will get its turn later on down the road). Yes, I did say the color and grain of certain parts of the dresser were gorgeous. Other parts, not so much.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

The wood on the drawer fronts and top was lovely, but dried out and dirty.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

The finish wasn't original on the other parts (kind of orange-y and shellacked). What to do? If you're offended by the painting of furniture, you'd best leave now...

We'd seen another dresser in a different shop that had been partially painted and it looked fabulous (the price tag, not so much). We decided to hack the look. Ron thoroughly cleaned the whole piece, and put a coat of clear acrylic polyurethane on the drawers' interiors. He also replaced a missing drawer stop with a piece of paint stirrer, and waxed the drawer runners with a candle to make them slide even more smoothly. He took the mirror off and removed its supports. Next he taped off the parts of the dresser he didn't want to paint (the lovely grainy parts).

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Then he applied a coat of green latex paint.

 Note replaced drawer stop © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Once it was dry, he sanded it off in areas that would naturally become worn (and this is a really key step in creating an authentically distressed look).

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Then he wiped dark stain along those sanded areas.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Finally, after the stain dried, he applied paste wax to the entire piece. Waxing really brings out the warmth and beauty of wood grain and helps prevent it from drying out.

Drawers before paste wax © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Drawers after paste wax © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Next we put the mirror back in place, lined the drawers with paper, and moved the dresser to its destination, where we styled it for fall!

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Here it is a little more lit up.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Thank you for visiting, we hope you come back soon!

Quince Cottage Style mixes old and new, rustic and opulent. Our goal is to make our

 new subdivision house look inviting and beautiful,

and as though it wasn't born yesterday.