since most of our furniture is found curbside or in a thrift store, we didnt feel the need to hang on to a lot of it when moving down to STL....this was true for our dumpster-dive dressers that we used to have, which we gave away before our big move....so when we got here, we had lots of clothes and no dressers to put them in....but then we found this beauty for $15 at our local Salvation Army thrift store....a diamond in the rough, you could say....
as you can see, its pretty gaudy retro...fitted with handles that dont actually fit....and if you look closely at the bottom, you will see that someone had began to paint it red, but then became discouraged (i can only infer)...
that red paint, however, was exactly in the inspiration i needed...i picked up my favorite barn red color ($2 for the big bottle!), and here is the "after" shot (sorry that the lighting is terrible):
so to start, i rubbed a thin layer of paint into the wood, let it dry, then sanded/scraped it off...the designs on the drawers that were previously very "Mad Men" have now become quite rustic!
this is some of the wicker detailing around the mirror...i simply ran a pocket knife over the wicker to distress it....
once painted and distressed, i needed to tackle the handles....being a retro dresser, the handle holes were only 2 inches apart...these days almost everything comes in 3".....so after weeks of trying to come up with elaborate plans for an alternative to traditional drawer pulls, i went back to my old faithful: twine.....which i always have on hand, so it cost me nothing!
i simply strung two pieces of twine through each hole, tying a knot on the inside....super simple, and easily changed....plus, they didnt take a huge bite out of my budget....
so if you are counting, i said this was an $8 project...$2 for paint, and the other $6 was spent on these beautiful flower handles from Hobby Lobby...though i love twine to death, i didnt want this dresser to look like it actually belonged out in a barn...the glossy handles really POP against the red and make it a little more sophisticated....
so that is my $8 dresser revamp! and now i have a beautiful place to put all my clothes (which have been hanging out on the floor and in rubbermaid containers for some time now!) i hope you feel inspired to revamp your own tired vintage dresser!
as you can see, its pretty gaudy retro...fitted with handles that dont actually fit....and if you look closely at the bottom, you will see that someone had began to paint it red, but then became discouraged (i can only infer)...
that red paint, however, was exactly in the inspiration i needed...i picked up my favorite barn red color ($2 for the big bottle!), and here is the "after" shot (sorry that the lighting is terrible):
so to start, i rubbed a thin layer of paint into the wood, let it dry, then sanded/scraped it off...the designs on the drawers that were previously very "Mad Men" have now become quite rustic!
this is some of the wicker detailing around the mirror...i simply ran a pocket knife over the wicker to distress it....
once painted and distressed, i needed to tackle the handles....being a retro dresser, the handle holes were only 2 inches apart...these days almost everything comes in 3".....so after weeks of trying to come up with elaborate plans for an alternative to traditional drawer pulls, i went back to my old faithful: twine.....which i always have on hand, so it cost me nothing!
i simply strung two pieces of twine through each hole, tying a knot on the inside....super simple, and easily changed....plus, they didnt take a huge bite out of my budget....
so if you are counting, i said this was an $8 project...$2 for paint, and the other $6 was spent on these beautiful flower handles from Hobby Lobby...though i love twine to death, i didnt want this dresser to look like it actually belonged out in a barn...the glossy handles really POP against the red and make it a little more sophisticated....
so that is my $8 dresser revamp! and now i have a beautiful place to put all my clothes (which have been hanging out on the floor and in rubbermaid containers for some time now!) i hope you feel inspired to revamp your own tired vintage dresser!
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