Thursday, October 11, 2012

Gutted Dresser for the Den {peek #2}

I haven't been this excited about a piece of revamped furniture in a loooong time.  Oh me oh my, it all came together so wonderful!  As always, I started without much of a plan... In fact, I had no intentions of buying a dresser.  But my friend Esther was having a huge and fantabulous barn sale, and I just happened to bring my truck... and there was this antique dresser for eight bucks...  never mind it had no drawer pulls (they're easy enough to find in my piles of hoarded goods) and that it was full of mouse turds (that's what they invented shop vacs for) and veneer was missing (thanks to Blue Star Antiques who recently filled me in on iron-on veneer you can buy in rolls - that was not going to a problem)....  My mom happened to be accompanying me and when she noticed me eyeing it up she quickly tried to steer me away.  "Another dresser is the last thing you need!  You have way too much to work on as it is...".  Obviously I didn't listen.
Here she is with her bottom drawers out, before I started.  I pulled out the jigsaw and sawed off the middle piece and stashed that in my craft room (who knows what that curvy piece of old wood might come in handy for).  Then I was able to hammer and pry the rest of the wood drawer supports out.  Apparently, the vacuum didn't get all the mouse turds out.  With each pry and hammer pound, piles more fell out.
Here's how I fixed this spot:




I LOVED these gorgeous little keyholes, but they were only on the drawers I removed and were missing on the ones I was keeping.  So that was easy, they popped off easily by sliding a putty knife under them.  

I used this stencil on the drawers. I was going to go for an "all over" look, but when I stopped at this, I decided I liked the sleek look.  I think I'll leave it... but not 100% sure.
So now we look like this and I'm looking for some wood for the "floor" of the dresser and also ransacking my stash or knobs and drawer pulls:
 I got some boards the right length, but needed tweeking.  I called in the Hubby.  He went out to the barn and found the most perfectess piece of barn wood (yes, it really was from our barn!) and sanded it down and it fit to a "T"!  I scrapped the idea of painting it white and left it natural so it matches the look of the rustic log lamp I inherited from my friend Debra when she moved to Canada.  Her and her hubby made the lamp and she recovered an old shade I got as a freebie.  Isn't it perfect?!  That lamp is actually what inspired me to paint the room purple!
Tobin is checking out his new "entertainment center".  
I actually bought the record player at the same garage sale as I got the dresser.  Thanks, Esther!!! 


The clock and grapes are special to me as the clock is from my late Aunt Jan, who you probably read about on my last Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday party (her hubby Jim was the the funeral I just traveled to Iowa for) and the cluster of amethyst grapes were my Grandma Snyder's.  And the large white mirror?  Well that caused me much grief this morning and I'll save that for a whole nother post.......
Pin ItThe Shabby NestFunky Junk's Sat Nite SpecialMy Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Today's Creative Blogshabby creek cottage

Photobucket
Home Stories A2Z

29 comments:

  1. jealous. I don't ever find gorgeous pieces of old furniture! (I'll pass on the mouse turds though!) Looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the sleek look. I think you did just the right amount of stenciling.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very cute, I recently did a piece where I took out the drawers as well. It really makes a unique piece.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love it, Kammy! Can't beat the price and you got a fabulous piece of furniture.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Can you come decorate my house. Please??? :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like this...I love people who see how I can make this better...and you sure did...I think the stenciling is spot on ...some times less is more...I just have a hard time stopping some times...

    Love this and the soothing shade of purple

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's really cute. I love what you did with it. Nice save!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This turned out beautifully--I love your use of purple and the stencil in particular!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is beautiful! I love that you painted the inside and the drawers the same color!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This transformation is gorgeous!! I love the shape of the dresser and the stencil details you added.
    Ruth

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the final outcome. That is a wonderful remake! Nice job.
    Now I'm inspired to get busy! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. love your new "entertainment center", it really turned out well.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow -- this is a stunning work of art! Lots of work but well worth the effort -- very creative to think of this new way of using the piece.

    ReplyDelete
  14. such a great piece now with more usable space! great idea and great job!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks so much for this! I actually have more dressers than I need and could use a transformation like this! Yay!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Gorgeous!! I love the matching drawers and lamp!

    Would love for you to share this at my very first linky party. My sister and I are working together over at “Think Tank Thursday”…would love to see you there!
    http://www.saving4six.com/2012/10/welcome-to-think-tank-thursday-1.html

    ReplyDelete
  17. oh goodness - it's gorgeous! You did such a fabulous job.

    ReplyDelete
  18. So pretty Kammy! I'm featuring it in the Spotlight this weekend. Thanks for joining the party again. Have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I hadn't seen this post till today, after I picked up an old chest that I'd planned to repair with iron-on veneer. It will also need a bit of glue or touch up stain in a few spots. Another coincidence is that it has 3 escutcheons similar to yours, but only 1 is intact. I'd like to make a mold & cast replacements because I'm not going to paint the chest. Thanks for helping bolster my courage to tackle repairing the veneer!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Kammy, I love how you stenciled this! Great piece!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Over from TDC - this is awesome and gives me hope for a piece I am working on. Thanks for the inspiration. You should be proud of it, it's gorgeous. I am a little jealous of the barn wood...lol

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love your piece! What a pretty dresser, great job! I love the front curve details and you did a great job on the stenciling.

    ReplyDelete
  23. How sweet is that dresser! super job, love the rustic(ness) of the bottom shelf.

    gail

    ReplyDelete

Comments - Next best thing to chocolate! :) Please let me know you visited!