Dresser Success

Sometimes I get a wild hair up my ass about a project, and spend an inordinate amount of time researching, planning, and eventually making it happen. The most recent (finished) project was a dresser! 

Short back story to this- I sold/gave away all but three pieces of furniture when I moved  in with/ to Texas with my darlin R. A lot of it was hand-me down crap, stuff I was tired of having, or given to a friend cuz I couldn't fit it in my car...my gorgeous kitchen island being the only thing I regret not bringing with me (other than my plants) *sniff* Besides, his stuff was better. 

Anyway, the lovely buffet/sideboard that I was using as a dresser is now in our kitchen being used as what is was meant to be, leaving us with no dresser. Generous his n hers closets, and some rubbermaid bins have been doing the job, but, I longed for a dresser. A spiffy one. Something with curves. Something with pizzazz. Something that would hold up with several moves better than something from Ikea (I still lub you, Ikea). 

I wanted to balance out the more contemporary straight lines of the bed frame and a hand me down, beat-to-hell  bookcase in our room with something curvy. Something with sexy legs, a little pomp, but not so much foof.  Being cheap thrifty, I started hunting down DIY ideas on the interwebz, and stalking craigslist. I had a pretty solid idea of what I wanted, and probably drove R crazy with all the emails an how many times I changed my mind. Anyway, after weeks of checking craigslist, the perfect dresser popped up for $75.Well, it had a funky finish, but it had great bones.  I called the guy right away, checked it out the following morning, and made a date to come back with some muscle to pick it up (totally would have fit in my car!). Probably could have haggled him down to a lower price, but, I really suck at that. Besides, the gentlemen selling it was incredibly nice, and he rustled up a friend on his end to help him deliver it.That's right, I got it delivered, for free. Awwwwesome. 

So, the real work begins. Ignore the crap on top, it's the craigslist ad photo. All my before pics of the whole thing were even funkier. The top, laminate. So fugly, that sanding it barely roughed up the surface. Ugh. 

I started by taking off the handles, which were all sorts of awesome sauce. Lurve those leafy curve. 

Then I set into sanding all the drawers by hand. There's no electric sander around (other than a dremel) and those lovely inset bits on the drawer fronts require a delicate touch. Let's keep in mind the temp here has been triple digits. So, that was fun. Whatever kind of paint is on these things was a pain and a half to get off, especially by hand. And it was hot. And I'm a big time wimp. So I attacked the drawers with super grippy spray primer instead. Thank, you, Krylon. 

 Pile o' drawers, weeee! 

Then came the paining. And the sanding. And more painting, sanding, touch ups, chasing off birds. I used a crap ton of wood glue to fill hairline cracks and divots. At one point some of the local gangster birds knocked over a drawer and the whole front popped off. I was livid! Thankfully we had some clamps around so I was able to glue the heck out of it and clamp it all down to stick. Then touch up. Oy ve. But it was lookin sooo good! 

The dark coat (Behr's "Gray Timber Wolf) turned out a lot lighter than I expected, but as still fantastic. That went on the outer part of the drawers, with Behr's "Manhattan Mist" on those lovely inset bits. One drawer needed to have those ridges painted on, since at some point it looked like it had sanded off. Can we say hand cramp? Still, the hardest part (other than the profuse sweating) was keeping the dog fluff away from wet paint.  

The handles I attacked with the same white primer I used on the drawers:

Once they dried I went after them with some "aluminum" spray paint, but they came out too shiny for what I had in mind. Some old metallic craft paint and a couple light brush strokes dulled it out nicely, and the handles went back home to their drawers. 

The dresser frame was a breeze, surprisingly enough. I lightly sanded down the whole thing, and prepped it using Glidden Gripper in gray. It's great for painted surfaces, cuz there wasn't a chance I would be tackling that laminate by hand. I am not that motivated. It took me two coats of paint with some light sanding in between to smooth out the bumps, and man, stick a fork in me I was D.O.N.E. 

This thing's been over a month on the works, and buckets of sweat. Thanks to a lovely neighbor, I got this baby moved into the bedroom this afternoon. It looks amaaaaaazing!

I'm stoked with the final product. I'm thinking about taking some metallic paint around the edges to bump up the manly 'tude, but for now I'm calling it done! Still needs a little oil rub-down on the inside, and some purty accessories.Now, if only I could find a couple matching nightstands....