Craigslist Dresser...From Old And Run Down To Pretty And Sweet

Being that today is Mother's Day I really didn't think I'd get a chance to write a blog post, but here I am! It was a gorgeous day here in Connecticut and we spent a lot of time outside. We went to my favorite local, outdoor flea market today and I was thrilled with the fact I only went 3 rows in and found so many great things! You'll have to wait to hear about those :-)

Today I'm writing about a dresser....yep I have a thing for dressers, but his one isn't for me. I bought this dresser from the 1810 farm house I talked about in another post. This is the same place I bought the night stands I sold and the buffet and chair I kept for myself. I had originally planned on keeping the dresser for myself too, but lets be realistic...I only have so much space!

This dresser has everyone thing I love in a piece of furniture. It's solid wood (I think it's cherry...at least it says so on the back!), has great lines, lots of drawers and neat details that make it stand out.

The sweet woman who bought the nightstands told me she wanted the dresser too. It was nice to know it was going to a nice home, even before it was done. I enjoyed knowing exactly what I needed to do to it as well....make it the same as the nightstands! Easy, right??? Well I thought the dresser would be easy peasy, but it's a big piece and it took a lot of time, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Here are some before pictures.....Ooops I have to mention the reason the top is so shiny. I put stripper on before I took pictures.

The top was in OK shape, but had a few spots that had to be filled. It also had some scratches and ink spots that I needed to sand out after I stripped it.

Here you can see the ink spot on the top.

Here are those great details and lines....love the hardware on this one too!

This is how it looked after 2 coats of paint and 5 coats of stain. The stain was a mix of Dark Walnut and Ebony. Paint is Annie Sloan Pure White.

Here's another little detail I loved...a little key hole. I painted the outsides (not the bottoms) of each drawer and the insides as well.

Two coats of paint, a coat of clear wax and a coat of dark wax and it was done! I kept all the original hardware, but when I went to paint the hardware (antique bronze) I realized one piece was missing. I hadn't even realized when I took them off! I had to scramble around and run to a few home improvement stores, but I found just the right hardware to pull it all together!

Here's the inside of the drawers. I lined them with this pretty, scented liner paper I bought at Home Goods. I think it really adds something special.