Before and After: Dresser and Side Table

I found this vintage waterfall style dresser on Craigslist over the weekend and bought it for dirt cheap. The owners had tried really hard to restore the wood veneer, but then put it in their humid pool house where it proceeded to peel up again.


I was going to try to reattach it but soon realized I just wasn't up for a job that time consuming at the moment.




It also had this awful water spot right on top.


Using a damp towel, a hot iron and a putty knife I was able to get all of the veneer off the drawers in about 40 minutes.


This dresser was the perfect candidate for a treatment I've been wanting to do for a while. First I cut out some numbers using a roll of contact paper that I usually use to line drawers...


... and rubbed them on real good.


Then I used a gray glaze on the drawers and when I peeled the contact paper off it left the wood numbers behind. I was so happy with how clean and crisp the lines were. No seepage or leaking at all! The drawers also got a little antiquing with some stain.


The original hardware wasn't too bad, so I buffed each pull with fine steel wool and later primed and painted them with oil rubbed bronze spray paint.


Here it is all done. In the end I glazed the top as well to hide that water spot. I re-stained the top, sides and spaces between the drawers, but the spot was still really noticeable. I would have liked to leave the top wood, but it had to be done.



I think I started sanding the top of this table before I remembered to take a photo, but to begin with it was in pretty rough shape.

Because of some water damage that swelled the wood, I had to sand down past the wood veneer and into the pressboard underneath in a couple of places. A little wood putty to smooth it out helped a lot.

It got painted a pretty blue (surprise, surprise right?) then distressed and antiqued with brown glaze.

This is one HEAVY table. I just love those legs!


And just for fun, here's one more little bit of Halloween decor that I did the other day. I FINALLY switched out my framed scrapbook paper with the spooky prints I found at The Graphics Fairy last year, and put up a flock of black cardstock bats.

I think I need a few more bats. You can never have too many bats around, right? :)