Dress er' up

Some tenants of one of my parents' apartments moved out and they left this shapely little dresser behind.  It's harder to find old furniture in Arizona (compared to Portland where there are terrific estate sales with truly old things) since most people are recent residents.  There are few old attics with tucked away treasures waiting to be re-discovered.  So I was thrilled to get my hands on this fairly old dresser and since I have no emotional attachments to it I knew I could do whatever I want to it without feeling the least bit guilty.

Here's the before picture.  The mirror was attached to the back before my dad dis-assembled it and brought it over here.  I really fell in love with the curves and the ornate feet.  I washed it down and sanded it to "knock the shine off" and that was pretty gross.  The former owners were heavy smokers so the cleaning and sanding just brought all those stale smoke smells out and ew, pretty stinky.  But cute for sure.

I mixed all my old cans of primer together and had enough to do the job.  So far I've kept it off the carpet (at this point the baby was napping so I was moving as fast as I could to get through this because babies and paint don't mix.  Well actually they do, and that's the problem).

Now for the fun part.  And I love it already!  I did most of this with a big paint pad (I love them and they are far superior to rollers for walls too, no splashing and easier clean-up).  I took a risk and tried the Kilz brand at Walmart (I'm a Behr enthusiast) and it did a great job.  It took 2 coats and dried fast (I was in a sunny room) and cost less than 9.00 for the pint.

Now for the tricky I-should-let-a-man-do-this-but-I-don't-like-waiting part. 

The mirror weighs a ton (or thereabouts) so I got the 50 lb cable at Michael's.  I don't know how much it weighs but I figured if it weighed more than that I probably wouldn't have been able to lift it so that sounded about right (I do keep waiting for a loud crash in the middle of the night though).  I think I did this right.

I love it!  I keep peeking down the stairs just to look at it!  I can't get the middle right drawer to shut because the mirror was so heavy that it warped the dresser a little so I'm going to have my super handy hunny take a look at it but not until I'm done staring at it (maybe in January sometime).  I definitely need a chandelier now (something tells me my little 9.00 paint job is going to turn into something bigger)!

Comments

[Heather Bailey]

That is outrageous! Such a gutsy, fun color. I love it! Where does she sit? Cuz I think you deserve to have this fun blue dresser in your sewing room : )

[autum]

Beautiful!! Way better blue and what a great shade of blue, by the way! I don't blame you, I'd want to sit and look at it too.

[jona]

Thanks gals! It sits in my front room so I've been coming in that way instead of through the garage because it's a much prettier sight than my laundry room. Plus I can open the curtains and the neighbors will walk by and assume my whole house is bright and tidy!

[Robbin]

Great Job!! I can't wait to see it.

[Sandi Henderson]

OMgosh-that is gorgeous! I am salivating..

[krystenl]

wow. you are amazing!

[pam]

dang sistah! that's amazing. nice work!

[beki]

Love it! I'm on the hunt for a big old dresser for my girls, so I'm pea green (er, blue) with envy!!

[Laura Gunn]

Yum, yum, yummy! Love that blue.

[Amy]

Oh my gosh! I love it! That is the color of my sewing room and I would just drool to have it!

[Ruth]

wow, it's amazing. I had lost some old furniture from my family some years ago, now I'm sad about that.