The Fabric Floozie

As you all saw a few weeks ago, we picked up a really cool, ornate dresser on Craigslist.
It was a steal and I knew it would be beautiful in our Master Bedroom.

The first step in restoring this beast was to remove all the drawers, and then all the hardware

Since the back panel of the dresser was damaged, we tore that off too, prying out all the old rusted staples.

The hardware was looking less than awesome, but the style was imperative to the design of the dresser. So I knew I had to work with what I had

Using equal parts White flour, vinegar, and salt, I made a paste, scrubbed the hardware, and let it set for over an hour.

Once you rinse it all off, the tarnish should wipe away as well.

After that it was time to start on the wood. I had to sand/buff out any rough areas on the drawer fronts to make them smooth, and ready for primer.

As always, my primer of choice in Zinsser Primer’s Cover Stain as it works on glossy surfaces. You can purchase it at The Home Depot.
First coat went on nice and easy

2nd Coat as well.

Now it was time to tackle the issue of ugly hardware. Brass goes with… well… NOTHING in my house. So I knew it needed a facelift.
I picked up one can of Rustoleum’s Metallic Spray Paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze and 2 cans of Rustoleum’s Ultra Cover Clear Gloss (Since I needed it for the dresser too) and went to work. Ladies… Don’t ever think these projects are too big to tackle, b/c if you find the right product that works, it’s a breeze.
Just give the hardware a few very light coats of paint and you’re good to go until it’s dry.

Since the hardware had to dry, it was time to start prepping the dresser body for priming. It started with tearing off the trim (which was missing a side piece)

and finished with sanding down any rough/scratched areas on the dresser body. Not realistically, this is a refinished piece of furniture… it’s not going to look AS smooth as a brand new piece of furniture unless you are able/willing to take the time and energy to sand the entire thing down to it’s bare bones. And even then, this piece probably wouldn’t have looked brand new b/c it was covered in a laminate veneer.
But since I like the look of a vintage, refinished piece of furniture, I’m okay with that.

Priming time

Then I did 2-3 coats of Rustoleum’s UltraCover2X White Spraypaint in Semi Gloss on the drawers to get them good and even, followed by 2 coats of clear

I then laid out the hardware on a clean surface and covered them with 2 light coats of Clear.

Look at those beauties

In an effort to keep costs and material waste down, we went through our stack of scrap materials. We found some previously used Luan from a booth I built for a Expo I’d participated in a few years back. One side is painted dark grey, the other a cream color. We opted for putting the cream side out (since the drawers will block the dark grey) and chose not to paint it since it won’t be seen anyways.

We purchased a few feet of a rectangular trim to place where the old trim was. Once we started cutting, we decided we liked the look of the bare sides better, and decided to only trim out the front of the dresser.

We topped that trim with another piece with a rounded face. We’d wanted a rounded face to begin with, but none of the rounded trims were tall enough to use on their own.

And then it was time for a full coat of white

At this point, the start of an Arctic Freeze heading into Dallas put a damper on our plans. Since our garage is our only workspace, it’s obviously very cold at night in December/January. This wasn’t a problem until it got below freezing and started compromising the finish of the paint I was using. One drawer had to be sanded down and repainted (the broken drawer. The face was sitting on the concrete and the freezing cold seeped up through the concrete floor and into the wood, causing the paint to scale) but that didn’t put too big of a crimp in our plans.
Check back later for Phase 2: The completion!