LIGHT AND BRIGHT: GIVING A DRESSER NEW LIFE

Remember when I bought this dresser?

Oh, you don't? Well that's probably because I did that at least three years ago. I bought it because it was just sitting there in the thrift store and it looked so cool that I bought it. Without any plan for it.

You will be happy to know that I have stopped doing that: buying stuff at thrift stores that I don't have a plan for. It almost never ends well.

In the case of this poor dresser it went into the garage. Where it sat and collected dust, spider eggs and a good amount of mildew.

Last year I dug it out, determined to fix it up or get rid of it. And when I did I was reminded of just how cool it is. It's not the most well-made dresser. It's all veneer, some of it in not such good shape, and while it's sturdy, it's not like this was built by a craftsman.

I solved the mildew problem with a really good wipe down with white vinegar (which is a good idea with old furniture anyway because it takes care of smells as well. Then I sanded it down with 220-grit sandpaper just to rough everything up. In places where the veneer was lifting, I pulled it up and glued it back down with regular wood glue. I also filled some of the holes with and areas where the veneer was damaged with wood putty.

I used Zinnser BIN Cover Stain primer because it has good adhesion and I just wanted to seal up everything really well. Then I put on two coats of Benjamin Moore Aura semigloss in Mascarpone. And then I let it sit for more than a year while I figure out what to do with the drawers.

In that time, we managed to pile a bunch of stuff up on top of it and ruined the paint job on top, so when I took this project up again, I lightly sanded the top and put another coat of paint on it and then went back to the drawers.

I had already sanded them when I first started this project, but I gave them just a light touching up by hand with 220-grit and cleaned them well. I really liked the light color they were after sanding, but there was no way to keep that color because wax or polyurethane would darken it. So I used some wood bleach to lighten them up. I just bought a bottle at the hardware store and followed the directions. Honestly, I'm not sure how well it worked but I think they got a little lighter.

When they were dry I went back and used liming wax on them. The white of the liming wax brought out the grain, which I actually liked on this piece (which is unusual for me), and lightened up the wood. It also helped take out some of the yellow in the wood (which really isn't coming through in these photos taken in the dark depths of my basement).

I still don't know where this is going to live. I think once I get the finished half of the basement spruced up (seriously, will that EVER happen?) it might be nice there and could even be used as console for a television if we would have one down there.

It might not have a home immediately, but I still  love it. I'm happy I went out of my comfort zone of painting everything and did something different with this piece.

Looking for a little help from my friends

It's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and I'll be back later with a few photos to actually participate (for the first time in months) but first I need a little help on a project.

Please note, that's a picture from the store, not one showing my growing silk clematis collection.

This is one that has been a long time coming. I picked up this dresser at the thrift store for $35 about two years ago. I bought it because I couldn't leave it there. I don't (and didn't then) have a place to put it right now, but I like it, so it will get used. Like the buffet that lived in the garage for a long time, this dresser has been languishing in our unheated, gross garage for a long time. And I've hit it with the car more than once.

The law has been laid down: I MUST start finishing some projects before I take on anything else. You can probably guess who came up with that edict, but I'm on board with it. He's right. Our house is way too small to be storing future projects. That's why I've passed up some great stuff at the thrift store (including this chair). If I can't fix it up and use it immediately, it doesn't come in the house.

Anyway, in late fall we pulled the dresser out of the garage and I got to work on sanding it. It was covered in mildew inside and stunk to high heaven. I cleaned it a bunch of times with various things including vinegar and have been letting it air out and now it's all sanded, smelling sweet and ready for the next step.

Ewww ... check out that mildew in there. People, don't leave your furniture in your garage for two years.

And that's where you come in. I want you to tell me what you think I should do with it. But this is not a no-holds-barred kind of thing. I have a general concept I'm hoping you'll help me flush out.

Because the top and sides are laminate veneer, the entire outside of it (top, sides, bottom rail, legs) is going to get painted white. If you are cringing at the thought of painting that plastic wood-type stuff, check out what I did to my desk at work. It's been well over a year and it has help up amazingly well. There's not a chip on it. But the drawers are real wood and they are sort of pretty, so I'm not going to paint those.

My inspiration to even buy this dresser started at Young House Love, where John and Sherry refinished a very similar dresser for their daughter Clara's room. They went with a dark stain and only painted the top.

Young House Love photo

Here's a similar finishing concept from Twenty-Six to Life.

Twenty-six to Life photo

Here's the opposite finishing from Birdhouse. The wood is sort of a medium tone, rather than dark like the examples above. Pay attention to the wood color here, not the positioning of paint vs. stain because it's not an option for me to stain the top and sides.

Birdhouse photo

Here's the reverse from Blessed Nest, again with a medium-tone stain (and amazing hardware).

Blessed Nest photo

Now we're getting slightly lighter with this one from Handmade Home.

Handmade Home photo

And even lighter on this dresser from The Lettered Cottage. Layla toned down the wood color with a little bit of gray stain, but this not too much different from the natural wood color of my dresser drawers.

The Lettered Cottage photo

And there's this one, which just gives you an idea of colors.

Contemporary Dressers Chests And Bedroom Armoires design by New York Furniture And Accessories Think Fabricate

So, what color do you think I should go with for the stain? Since I don't know where this is going, let's just assume you don't have to worry about matching it to anything else. Logically it will end up in one of the bedrooms which, as you recall, have a darker bamboo floor in them, in case that affects your decision at all. 

This is the master bedroom, just to remind you of the floors in there.

Let me know in the comments or on facebook what direction you think the dresser should go in.