Saturday, December 1, 2012

Dresser/Buffet with tutorial

The only other mahogany buffet that I redid sold within 3 days at the shop. 
White with the natural wood top sells like hotcakes around here!
I came across this ad for a dresser for sale on CL and thought it would make a nice buffet.
Have a looksee......

 Forgot to snap a before shot before I got stripping! My stripper of choice is "Soy Gel". I've raved about it in other posts. No smell and completely non-toxic! Works just as well as the chemical strippers. And clean up is with water.  Doesn't get any easier than that.  You can order it online at the Real Milk Paint co or many other sites. 

  I wasn't about to put back the drawers for the pic.  But here's what the whole enchilada looked like......
 I keep collecting pieces to do, and then pushing them aside and working on the newer stuff!! lol

I also wasn't about to move this beast inside to stage and then move it back out and load it onto the truck!  I swear, this baby must weigh 200 lbs! 
This one was off to my space at Debras Cottage in Costa Mesa.
The veneer was completely torn off this leg and badly peeling away on two the others. There were
multi layers. Those got glued down first and clamped .
Other than the legs, the rest of the piece was in great shape. Did some minor filling. 
After the glue set, I applied the wood filler/epoxy on the bare spots. Rather than doing one
thick layer, I did one coat, sanded, and then applied a second coat.
This is the sanding between 1st and 2nd coats. I use a putty knife to apply it. You can start sanding after
about 15-20 mins, or when dry. If you wait until the next day, it really hardens and sanding can be more difficult. 
I didn't bother with stripping the drawers. Just gave them a light sanding to smooth the surface
and sand out any fine scratches.

The top was stained and sealed with a water based acrylic top coat. The body was primed because
this original mahogany finish bleeds through the white. Doesn't matter if you use
chalk paint, still bleeds.  I stained the patched portion because during distressing, you don't 
want the light colored filler to show. 

some tools of the trade. 
And here it is all finished!  I found this material on clearance at hobby lobby. I just lined
the top drawers because it is just way tooooo much work to do all 12!
I used CeCe Caldwell's White, 2 coats, sanded and lightly distressed. Mylands clear wax finished it up. 
                                I kept the original hardware, just cleaned and polished!
 I cut out a template with paper, and then cut the material around the template. Affix w/spray adhesive.






I’m partying at:


12 comments:

  1. Lovely! Nice to see the process you go through and all the different products too! x

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  2. love your dresser, it looks beautiful and it looks like it was alot of work but very worth it!

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  3. So cute! Great work, I love the drawer liners!

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  4. Thanks so much for linking up! I just saw it!!! Featuring at my party tomorrow ;)

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  5. This is great! Lovely piece. I have a dresser I'd like to refinish but the drawers and tracks need some attention. Did all these drawers fit well? Any repair hints other than painting? I'll check some of your other blog postings...

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  6. Great job. I love the drawer liners. I picked up this exact same piece curbside a couple years ago. It was missing the middle top drawer and three of the drawer pulls. It was pretty scratched and beat up, so a little bit of work. I painted mine completely white and did the drawer pulls in oil rubbed bronze. I would love to send you a photo. I LOVE it. I am curious to how much you will sell it for. I will never sell mine, because I love it too much. But I wonder what it is worth.

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    1. Virginia, you have a "no reply" listed, so I can't email you back. email me directly at bicycleliz@yahoo.com

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    2. Oops sorry. I just looked at my pictures, I remembered I blogged about it. Mine is a little different now that I look at it. Yours has drawers all down the center and mine doesn't. I pasted the link to my blog post. See if you can get it there. Otherwise my blog is timeforcreativetherapy.blogspot.com

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  7. such a pretty dresser, and love the detail in the drawers!

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  8. Just gorgeous! You will be one of the features at Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House. Pop on in and grab a feature button. The party goes live at 8am CST. Hope to see you at the bash! Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

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  9. I love it..I have one similar sitting in my garage! How do you polish the hardware? It looks wonderful!

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