Imagine the Elevated Chest

Gary Hardman
by Gary Hardman
6 Materials
$50
2 Days
Medium

I love brown, boring furniture. Especially great bargains with interesting bones. I snagged this beauty for $30 on line. A forty minute trip to and from and I was already trying to imagine what this creature could look like.

This squat three drawer chest had a marble top and brass pulls in great condition. I cleaned it with windex and took the hardware off. My thought was this needed to be higher. Looking through my stash of bits and pieces I came up with four legs that fit perfectly. To add the legs, I needed to add several pieces of 1X4 wood to mount them on the bottom corners of the chest. I then used three inch screws to mount the legs to the bottom.

Once I set her on her on feet...perfect. To prep for paint I put on a coat of General Finishes Primer. Once dry I added two coats of General Finishes Black Velvet. I choose to leave the Legs in their natural condition for contrast. Stenciling came next.

Using Pale Oak, I lightly dabbed up and down over the stencil with only a little paint on the brush. Too much paint and it runs. The tricky part was the curves of the drawers. I taped the edges but also held down the areas I was working on. To finish I applied two coats of wipe on polyurethane clear satin and cleaned the brass hardware.

The result was an amazing transformation. Adding legs gave this piece the lift it needed.

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  3 questions
  • Merry Straub Merry Straub on Apr 15, 2021

    Stunning!!! Where did you get the stencils?

  • Linda Linda on Apr 15, 2021

    Is the top marble? Wood? Hard to tell, but gorgeous.

  • Deb bee Deb bee on Apr 16, 2022

    Are the original drawers veneer covered? I have a dresser that has veneer drawers, and it looks difficult to cover. Thanks, Debbie

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  • Joan Stanley Joan Stanley on Apr 24, 2023

    I truly LOVE old furniture. I just wish I had the imagination to renew pieces as beautifully as this!

    • Gary Hardman Gary Hardman on Apr 24, 2023

      Hey Joan. Imagination is just building on someone else’s idea and then the courage to take risks, have fun and make mistakes. Some of my mistakes have turned out pretty good. Others not so much. With wood furniture you get as many redos as you want.

  • Cba51840384 Cba51840384 on Jun 04, 2023

    Just stunning!!

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