A Mid-Century Modern Dresser Makeover

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You’d laugh if you saw my 9-year-old’s dresser.

They say that laughter is the best medicine, so if you’re feeling in need of a good laugh, here’s your daily dose of chuckles.

I didn’t clean up for you :). That disorganization is real, y’all!

 

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I know….poor thing. The handles were falling off of this cheap $20 thrifted particle board dresser. It simply served a purposed, but it’s overstayed its welcome.

I’d been meaning to refinish a dresser for him.

It’s not like I don’t have a plethera of options (have you seen the stuff I find at my favorite thrift store???)

Like this one:

BEFORE

 

 

I had found this little guy about a year ago, and for $20, I couldn’t pass that up. Even if it was missing a knob.

….Only, I let it sit in my garage. While my baby’s dresser was falling apart. (Sorry, sweetie!).

Well, this weekend, I busted out my sanding skillz and decided to transform this baby into something that my 9-year old could be proud of.

When I asked him if he likes it when I was done, he asked, “Why wouldn’t I??”

Here’s what it looks like now!

AFTER!

 

To Stain or Not to Stain?

That was the question.

As much as I sometimes hate sanding, I actually really love that moment when stain hits fresh wood. It’s magical the way it sucks up the color like a magician. Paint just doesn’t have that same effect.

I decided to sand the dresser down to its bare wood, even the drawers.

TIP: When sanding wood with an orbital sander, start with tougher grit sandpaper and work your way down to a fine sandpaper. 

 

 

There’s nothing like fresh, sanded wood, right?!

 

 

The thing I hate about sanding is getting into the corners. I just got one of these RYOBI Job Plus tools, which comes with a sander head for tough corners that my orbital sander can’t reach.

 

 

Sometimes I struggle with stains and figuring out what shade I really want.

But I stumbled on these two stains. They look awesome when paired together! (See how they look together on raw birch wood!)

 

 

I wanted something that looked weathered, but the shade of the bare wood affected how the stain looked. The Early American shade turned out more reddish than I expected. I probably did two coats.

 

 

 

 

When I layered the Weathered Gray on top of the Early American, I wiped it off quickly.

 

 

Then, I dipped my rag in the Early American again and wiped another coat over the Weathered Gray.

 

 

The result was that the gray got ingrained into the grain which gave it a bit more texture. I love the result!!

 

 

 

I painted the drawers white, but I had a crap of a time getting the white actually white because some of the old stain bled through where I tried to sand in between the grooves.

Finally, after just a couple coats, I just decided to apply a coat of wax over the paint and then try to paint again. Did it work? Meh– a little.

I finally decided that if I had a little bleed-through, oh well. My son wouldn’t notice. 😉

 

 

Not Enough Knobs!

Don’t you hate when you want to re-use knobs and pulls from an original dresser but you’re missing one?! I wish a magical Knob Fairy would just drop it in my mailbox.

This one had so many knobs it looks like the teats on the belly of a cat! HA!

 

 

I decided that I would use only four of the knobs on top since I couldn’t find #8 and just use wood filler in the bottom row of holes (then sand them smooth). It was the best solution I could come up with without having to buy new knobs.

The knobs on the bottom were left-over when we redid our kitchen 5 years ago.

The knobs were chipped gold so I used a Sharpie oil-based paint marker to have them match the silver pulls.

 

 

 

 

And my favorite crafting tool of all is Rub n’ Buff. I can’t say enough about how transformational it is! (See my post: 5 Ways to Use Rub n’ Buff).

 

 

I think it turned out really nice!

 

 

I love using Miss Mustard Seed’s hemp oil on freshly stained wood.

 

 

I wiped on two coats of oil.

 

 

 

The top has a weathered look, too.

 

I finished the painted drawers with Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Wax.

I actually prefer this over the Annie Sloan clear wax because this wax doesn’t smell yucky like Annie Sloan wax!

 

I don’t have my son’s room totally set up yet, so I’ll have to show you the dresser in its full glory once I get it together!

 

 

 

But I totally love how this turned out!

Maybe it’s a little grown up for my son, but he’s a big boy now. (He just started 4th grade today!)

And he doesn’t deserve a dresser that’s falling apart.

He deserves something that is handsome and functional.

 

 

The dresser was later put in my son’s blue accent wall bedroom!

 

 

 

So what do you guys think?! 🙂 Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

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