I'm still working on decorating and furnishing this beautiful house of mine. It's almost twice the size of our last home, so it's taking me a long time. I don't want to just put anything in here, I want to figure out what has purpose for us, is useful, and I want things to be beautiful and flow nicely as well.
My husband calls me a "Craigslist Stalker." I am not afraid of a little hard work and I actually like taking old furniture and fixing it up. It's fun for me.
So, when I saw this dresser and mirror on Craigslist for just $15 total, I immediately asked my strong, handsome, fireman, husband if he would mind picking it up for me. When he said yes (I totally buttered him up!), I called and was thrilled that it was still available.
It had been in storage for quite some time, so it was dirty, and full of cobwebs.
The drawer pulls are a bit flimsy and not what I had in mind, and the dresser is actually a bit smaller than I had imagined from seeing the pictures. However, for only $15, for both the dresser and the mirror? I would make it work.
The mirror is a very nice size, and I will hang it on the wall above the dresser. At the moment, it's sitting in my dining room because I can't hang it by myself, haha.
I added some black spots/rubbing to it to match the top of my dining room table, and a clear gloss to the wood. I want to hang it that way first, because my first inclination was to paint it white, then I thought it might be better if it matches the table (my table is wood on top, all white on the bottom/legs). A friend suggested that maybe I could even paint it silver to tie in with the "new" drawer pulls on the dresser, and the chandelier! All three ways sound good to me, so I figured I'd hang it up with the more natural wood tone first, and if that wasn't working for me, I'd paint it white, and if that stillll wasn't working for me, silver!
All I did was add the sublte bits of black you see there, and gave it a bit of shine to match the table top. It was super easy.
As for the dresser, I cleaned it up, sanded it down lightly, and filled in the many little gouges and holes with some woody filler.
I gave it a coat of my favorite Zinnser primer, and then a coat of white satin paint I had sitting in the garage.
One that dried, I buffed on some paste wax to keep it nice and pretty.
I am not very patient and after this project sat in my garage for a few days, untouched, I wanted it DONE in one day. So, I finished it in one day. I didn't have a chance to run out and look for new drawer pulls, so I just cleaned the originals up and sprayed them with some Brushed Nickel spray paint. It'll do for now!
I love all the added storage in my dining room with the drawers. I keep my candles/tarts/Scentsy stuff in one, cookie cutters/sprinkles in another, birthday party type favors in one, paper plates and utensils in another... it's great! I had hoped the dresser would be big enough for me to store some of my platters and trays, things like that in the drawers but they're just not deep enough. If I do someday find a dresser/buffet that would work better for our dining room needs (and honestly, this is just fine for now!), I will probably end up just moving the dresser up to one of my daughters rooms. Or maybe repainting it black and putting it in my kitchen to use as a coffee bar.
All in all this whole project cost me just $15 because I had all of the paint and supplies on hand!
We currently have our dog crate in a corner not pictured (it's not pretty! Haha!). I want to move it somewhere else and put a small white desk in that space, eventually. Something with a few small drawers for homework supplies since this room is generally quiet, with no distractions.
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