Wednesday, September 15, 2010

What Would You Do?

Another one, you ask?

Yes, well, I've come to realize that it's actually quite fun to ask you your opinion on various things, one because I love hearing your thoughts and ideas, two because you actually may know more about home decorating than I do, and three - well, I'm just plain curious.

As you may or may not know, the Master Bedroom Remodel is still coming along quite nicely. It's nearly there - I say nearly because there is one more piece of furniture in the room that needs a makeover. Bad.

Meet my I-found-this-at-a-garage-sale-during-college-and-made-my-first-attempt-at-refinishing-it dresser.


There is enough space to the right of the bed that the dresser fits perfectly. We debated about whether or not to just get rid of it (like Tom's dresser), but people - I need that dresser. There's just not enough closet space for all the um, necessities that that dresser stores - it stores everything from undergarments to workout clothes, not to mention the dresser itself also functions as a vanity. Hence the mirror. I grew up having to share a guest bathroom with my younger sibling, and so mastered the art of styling my hair and applying makeup in my bedroom, using my dresser as a vanity. And, funny enough, I still find myself in that same situation - sharing a (even smaller) guest bathroom with my husband.

All in all? I LOVE my dresser.

But what I don't love about my dresser?

This disastrous finish.


I suppose it might look decent from afar (and in these photos), but really, it's pretty bad. Here's how it went down: I bought the dresser and sanding off the shiny finish over the wood (by hand, which took hours - but hey, I was just a poor college kid and couldn't afford an orbital sander), in the process using different sandpaper grits and gouging deep into the wood in many places (I also didn't know to sand in one direction, sigh). Once that was done, I spray painted the whole thing with those 99 cent cans of black spray paint you find at the bottom of the spray paint section at the home improvement store, in a third story breezeway in the 20+ mph Oklahoma wind. Then I took some sandpaper and randomly sanded away areas of the black spray paint to reveal the wood underneath, distressing the edges - and also other completely unrealistic random areas. Then I purchased some spray paint sealer-type finish to protect my lovely *cough* paint job, and sprayed that in a third story breezeway in the 20+ mph Oklahoma wind. Then we moved - 4 times.

SO. Now you know the story of my dresser. It has a bit of a history with us. But more than that, it's built super-sturdy and is made of solid wood. It works great, and we couldn't be happier with it.

What I'm not happy with? The college-student-who-doesn't-know-what-she's-doing finish on it. Cringe.

So now it's time to refinish my earlier horrible paint job on this puppy.


And now I'm asking: what would you do with this dresser?
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5 comments:

  1. Wow - it sounds like it has taken a beating, but I'm sure it could be easily fixed. I sure have created some disasters out of once wonderful furniture myself, so I know exactly how you feel when you look back wondering, "What was I thinking?!"

    I think I would perhaps try adding wallpaper to the drawer fronts and paint it white. Then I would get some really cool Anthropolgie knobs and it would be as good as new. However, that may not be very timeless and classic, so maybe I would repaint it white or gray or even keep the black and just update the knobs to stand out from the finish.

    I can't wait to see what you end up doing!

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  2. Definitely fix it up, it's a good piece. And with where you want it, I'd say sand it and paint the base white but stain the top in espresso.

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  3. I think a two tone look would be really pretty on this. A stained top with a painted body, and some new knobs and you've got a brand new dresser. :)

    Just use good primer on the bottom and you won't need to sand it again.

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  4. I would totally keep it! Maybe paint the top a different color as others suggested, and add a stencil to the drawers and add some blingy hardware? Can't wait to see what you end up doing!

    xoxo,
    Jen

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  5. deff pimp it out with some new knobs! new hardware always makes things look classy! (did i just say pimp and classy in the idea sequence?) oh dear.

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