Painted Finish Dresser
Not bad for a $5.00 investment. I got this old child’s chifforobe dresser in 1982 at a garage sale somewhere. A painted finish dresser that had been antiqued a medium blue called my name. It was in pretty sad shape as I recall, but the price was right. In our mid 20’s, my husband and I didn’t have much cash or furniture. This piece had potential and, more importantly, would fit in our tiny townhouse apartment. At the time, I was all about stripping the paint off stuff and getting things back to their natural wood. So this piece got stripped, poly-ed and adorned with new ceramic knobs.
Always a useful piece, it had an odd sort of charm to it with the router-ed diamond pattern incised into the one drawer and the door. It started out as a liquor/wine cabinet in the living room of two homes. Then it took on a new job at another home as an extra kitchen storage cabinet/microwave cabinet until the kitchen was remodeled. With the addition of some interior shelves, it moved to the family room to hold magazines, phone books, papers, and the all important ‘junk’.
When I moved again a few years ago, back into the kitchen it went to house my baking equipment, knives, and a few other important cooking utensils. The top surface was a great extra counter for my grocery list, and came in handy lots of times in cooking for a group in that tiny kitchen.
I was ready to let it go when I moved again this summer, but it seemed like it just might come in handy again- as storage for dining table and kitchen linens. The kitchen here is pretty large, with plenty of storage for cooking equipment and utensils, but without a good place near the dining area for tablecloths, napkins and kitchen towels. I had been wanting to give it another look for some time now- so the timing was right to make that happen.
Already fairly beat up looking, with a chunk of one drawer long gone, I decided on a very special distressed finish I like to call ‘Old and Crappy’. Essentially, using several specialized tools, a couple of coats of paint, some glaze and poly, it looks like it’s been stashed in some guy’s workshop or garage for decades before being cleaned up as much as possible and pressed into service in the kitchen.
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| abuse furniture, not people or animals |
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| I kept the same knobs- I’ve always liked the crackly glaze that’s on them. |
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| I like this dark green shade with the new wall color and painting above. |
You might notice that the groovy diamond pattern is gone. I never liked it, so I made it go away. I like it much better without. Now this dresser fits in perfectly with the eclectic primitive antiques, folk art and artwork in my home.
I have so many pieces in my home that are reclaimed. A little wax on the sliders and the pieces work beautifully. Love how paint and creativity create a home!
Barb