On DIY Dressers

[aloneuntilldeat]

This past fall, I took out the trash and noticed that my neighbor was throwing away a nifty little dresser that looked to be in good condition. I had been looking for a dresser to make over for some time, since I had become aware of the amazing things that can be done with an old dresser and some paint. Here was my chance, I thought. As you can see

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[aloneuntilldeat]

I started by stripping the dresser with an inexpensive organic paint stripper that I bought at Meijer. Then I sanded it down, primed it with Zinsser Bulls Eye primer, and gave it two coats of Valspar Interior Semi Gloss paint from Lowe's. The pull knobs are from Target; I had to put extra washers on some of them to compensate for differences in the drawer thicknesses in places (likely caused by wear and tear). One of the drawers is still missing a plastic guide that keeps the drawer level, but its really hard to tell unless you open it. I'm trying to find a comparable part for sale somewhere, but I might have to make one out of wood if I can't find one.

If you luck out and find a real wood dresser in your neighbor's trash this week, you can probably skip the first step, stripping it; I only did that because I wanted to stain it, but it turns out that the top has a laminate overlay that I couldn't stain - so I chose to paint it, which probably worked out better in the end, anyways. Have you looked for a dresser at local thrift stores? I haven't yet, but I have been thinking about trying to find a wider, eight-drawer wooden dresser to refinish and use as an entertainment stand for under our wall-mounted tv in the family room. Ikea has a dresser I LOVE for that purpose, but they want $300 for it; I'm pretty sure I can refinish a used dresser to look just as good for about $100 or less.

d