Dresser Revival

My awesome friend, Sarah, picked up a couple of very nice/super scary pieces of furniture for me at a garage sale awhile back.  They have been sitting in her basement waiting for me to retrieve them.  On my last trip to Seattle I was able to bring one of them back with me.

You may have noticed that I'm really bad at remembering to take 'before' pictures.  Well, at least I have some this time, not good pictures, but you get the idea.

This poor dresser had been covered in a thick coat of enamel paint and judging by how beat up it was and by the various motorcycle racing stickers on it, had gone to live in someone's shop or garage before Sarah rescued it.

Paint stripper was the only way this nasty stuff was going to come off.  It took three applications which included two chemical burns to my forearms.  Paint stripper is not nice to work with.  I was wearing long rubber gloves, but I splattered the goop up above my gloves a couple of times.  Luckily, as soon as you rinse in with water it stops burning and it didn't leave any kind of redness or mark, weird, huh?  Just be careful would ya!  Oh wait.  It was me that wasn't being careful.  :)

So after the stripping there was a lot of sanding and then. . . .

Yes, I know it is missing a knob.  It only came with seven.  I have actually ordered some vintage knobs off of etsy, but I thought I might like to tie the color into the front a little more, so while I am waiting for them to arrive I painted the knobs.  I may only replace the top two with the vintage knobs, or I may go get another plain knob to match these from HD and paint it to match.  I'll decide when the knobs show up.

The top and the drawer fronts are stained Minwax's Ebony.  

The body is painted a beautiful teal leaning toward blue.  As usual, I mixed the color.

I used a dark wax everywhere I had painted and distressed all the edges.  Oh, I forgot to mention that I didn't fill in any of the dents or divots, and a few of them even still have hints of the blue paint in them.  It really adds to the history and character of the dresser. 

 I waxed the tops and the drawer fronts with a clear wax and buffed them to protect them and give them a subtle shine.  I have a hint to share with anyone who is trying out wax for the first time.  If you go to HD to pick some up, skip the painting section and head over to the floor cleaning/ restoration area.  I had been using Minwax's finishing wax, however, it is very hard and difficult to work with.  I didn't care for it.  You can warm it slightly and it makes it easier to work with, however, in the flooring section you will find Johnson's Paste Wax (the second one pictured on the link page.)   It is MUCH nicer to work with.  It is soft and lovely and applies to the wood easily.  Bonus: it is about half the cost of the Minwax finishing wax!

OK, how about one more shot of this lovely dresser.  This one is for sale for $160.  Email me at applehouserevival at gmail dot com if you are interested.  If I don't sell her first she will be going into my space at Apple Annies.

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I'm sharing over at 
The Shabby Chic Cottages's Transformation Thursday
Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party
The CSI Projects Garage Sale Finds and Make Over Link Up
Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday