$17 Vintage Dresser

Yep, that's right--$17 is the price I paid for Guinevere! The Salvation Army I was in is moving to a new location, so they had everything in the store marked down by 50%! Shut the front door! I'm at a thrift store AND everything is marked down by half?! Is this real life?

(This means that Kayla wins the free high five for being the first person to guess within $2 of the cost--she guessed $16!)

So when I saw her, I tested the working quality of the drawers, made sure it was solid wood (it's solid cherry) and saw that, with the exception of being worn, she was in GREAT shape for the $35 she was marked for.

Luckily, she fit right into the back of my CRV. Since Cowboy and his truck are in a different city than this little dresser and I...and I didn't think to measure anything before following my gut to hand the cashier $17...I was in luck when everything fit nicely. :)

She had obviously been "well-loved" in her previous life, but it had also obviously taken its toll. Here's how I gave her a "new" life!

Knowing I wanted to paint this piece, I almost immediately thought it would look beautiful in a cloudy gray. But, remembering my trip to Good Juju with Krissy back in June, I decided I should try something in color. I didn't get TOO far away from neutral though (baby steps here, people!), as I decided on Rustoleum's Slate Blue in a satin finish. Since I was using spray paint for this project, I knew I didn't want to use a poly to finish it. I decided to try finishing wax for the first time because of the matte finish. (I decided against glossy spray paint for a reason!) Also...just a tip: do you see that Spray Grip down there? You know...the one you can only see half of! Yeah, if you don't own one, you should. Rustoleum makes them and they're $2.50 at Wal-Mart. Essentially, they turn any can of spray paint into a paint gun of sorts. No more "spray-paint finger!" Please purchase one before you even dare pick up another can of spray paint.

Anyway, for this project, I used Krylon primer in gray, two cans of Rustoleum in slate blue, finishing wax and one can of oil-rubbed bronze for the hardware (not pictured). (And the spray grip and some sandpaper and some cheesecloth...but we'll get there!)

Back to business: one of the most important steps in refinishing any type of furniture is the amount of work you put into prepping it. You can skip it and focus your time on the visible finish, but you'll probably be re-doing it next year (if you make it that long) when your paint starts scraping off. Just a fair warning: time invested in prepping your piece will save you the time and trouble of re-doing it later and is like time earned. (Get it? A dollar saved is a dollar earned?)

SO--first all of the hardware came off (I spray-painted it with oil-rubbed bronze while it was off!) and the entire piece was sanded well, vacuumed and then wiped down.

Once the piece was prepped and dry, I gave it one coat of gray primer and three light, even coats of the slate blue, sanding the piece with a between-coats sanding block to knock off any "grit" the spray paint left behind (she's as smooth as a baby's bottom now!).

I kind of love this color because of how it changes depending on how the light hits it. See how it looks gray in the left picture and bright blue in the right picture? I literally took these photos just seconds apart! You're so moody, Guinevere.

Once the paint had cured overnight, I took a 220 grit sand paper to chip the "high traffic areas"...i.e. legs, outside edges, drawer fronts...and then used the between-coats sanding block to smooth things out (isn't the original stain peeking through crazy beautiful??). Once that was done, I vacuumed the entire piece to remove any extra sanding dust and wiped it down with a damp cloth. Once it was dry, I began waxing it. This was a new experience for me and this was an extremely helpful resource. My advice would be to go slow, make the coat/layer thin and do small parts at a time, rather than tackling one entire expanse at once. Once the wax was dry (which takes no time at all), I buffed it out with an old pair of pantyhose (whatever you use, it HAS to be lint-free or else your piece will be permanently speckled with dust and lint...NO BEUNO). Worked like a charm! Once that step was done, Cowboy and I put all of the freshly-ORBed (oil-rubbed bronze) hardware on and stood back with smiles on our faces. (And, as you can see, I left all of the interior parts their natural wood...simply because it is in really good shape and is beautiful.)

 Best $17 furniture purchase. ever. (see the moody color difference again??)

Those little framed notes on top (inside of my $1.99 GW frame, of course!) are the "poems" Cowboy wrote for me and tied to my front door both the night after our second date and then the night he proposed. I wrapped the cardboard insert with a piece of scrap fabric, pinned the notes in and put it all back in the frame! Love looking at these as I walk out every day. :)

For those of you who love a little breakdown like me...

Supplies I used:

• 1 can of gray primer ($3.24)
• 2 cans of slate blue ($7.54...and still have some left)
• 1 can of oil-rubbed bronze spray paint ($3.24)
• 1 between-coats sanding block (already owned, but $3-4 if you don't have one)
• 1 quarter-piece of 220 grit sand paper (already owned, but $3-4 for a pack if you don't have it on hand)
• Finishing wax ($9.46 for the entire container, but I only used around 20% of it, so I'll count the cost for this project as $1.89)
• Cheesecloth ($1.98 for a huuuuuuge roll. I probably only used 25% of it...so I'll count the cost as 50 cents)
• Dresser  ($17.49)

What I spent: $16.41 for supplies and $17.49 for the dresser, bringing the grand total to $33.90! Total cost ended up still being less than the price the dresser was originally marked for...just sayin'!

I seriously got lucky blessed by my Salvation Army having a half-off moving sale. Have you guys scored any sweet deals by chance like that?

Have a great weekend!