Lately I’ve been thinking I need to start a blog. Since the Pinterest outbreak, I've been more into crafts and DIY projects than ever. I’ve kept a Pinterest board of my own projects, and love being able to share pictures of things I’ve done and keep them all in one place. One of my Scrabble crafts has more than 10,000 repins, which I think is pretty cool!
One thing missing from my Pinterest posts is the link that goes to the blog where it tells you how to do/make things. I’ve thought about starting one before, but wasn't sure I would keep it up or have enough content. That still may happen, but lately I’ve been getting into painting (and selling) old furniture. So far it’s been going really well, and I thought now would be a good time to start a blog- mostly so I have a link back to all my pins!
I have always loved seeing old furniture painted and redone, and had been thinking about tackling something for a while. One thing I have seen on Pinterest and really wanted to do was make a TV stand out of an old dresser. (Plus we had a small, Walmart TV stand and I wanted something nicer.) In the process of looking for that perfect dresser to transform, I fell in love with a Mid-Century set of two dressers and a nightstand that was already painted white, looked awesome, and best yet, was selling for an incredibly reasonable price. I dragged Ryan and my dad out in a huge blizzard to pick it up.
When we arrived, the people selling it had about six dressers, all painted white with oil-rubbed bronze hardware. They basically buy old furniture, paint it white and sell it. I thought to myself, “I could do that…”
Shortly after that purchase, I continued looking for that perfect piece for my project, but in the back of my mind also thought about fixing up furniture to sell. Most postings on Craigslist were either way overpriced for something I was going to redo, or they were poor quality (I’ve learned to look for solid wood and dovetail drawers- manufacturer stamps are a huge plus!) I finally found a gorgeous Mid-Century dresser for $50. It was the right mix of nice lines and good bones, but just needed some love to look great again. It had posted the night before, so I emailed in hopes it was still available. I got a response pretty quickly that said the first person to schedule a pick-up time could get it. Luckily, I was that person- and that evening Ryan and I picked up this beauty:
I dug my palm sander out of the toolbox and went to work. The top two drawers were in extra rough shape, but I wanted to remove them anyway to have a place for the cable box and Playstation. I went to work sanding, wood-filling, and sanding again until the surface was nice and smooth all around. Then I primed, painted 3 coats and added a coat of polyurethane to protect it. I love anything copper, so I picked out an aged copper spray paint for the hardware, and it looks great against the white. I happened to have two baskets that I bought maybe two years ago on clearance but never used them. They fit perfectly where the top drawers had been, and are great for hiding the electronic components.
Here is the finished project:
So, that’s what started it all. I really wanted to keep this dresser not only because I love it, but it was my first furniture project. After the dresser, I have done two end tables, a pair of nightstands and another dresser, with four more projects in the works. Every piece has a little story and thought process to make it new again, which I’m excited to share- and hope you will enjoy reading!
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