1800's Empire Dresser Turned Wine Bar

The Rustic Duchess
by The Rustic Duchess
After buying this 1800's empire dresser it sat in the garage taking up a bunch of space. It needed so much work we had buyers remorse. All of the drawers and tracks needed to be rebuilt after over a hundred years of use. Finally, I had an idea that would make it functional again. Remove the bottom drawers and convert it to a wine rack. Maybe it wasn't much less work, but it came out great.
The body was painted in Antique White and sealed with High Performance Top Coat in Flat. The wood work was done in General Finishes and sealed with High Performance Top Coat Satin. We added a couple lion's head pulls done in oil rubbed bronze to the top drawer (which still had to be rebuilt.)
Available in Bothell by appointment only. ~ $849
Storage for 16 bottles of your favorite and a place to hang your stemware as well.
Here's how it looked after sitting in the garage for over a year.
The drawers and tracks were removed as well as some damaged veneer.
New trim was added to the top and the missing chunk repaired.
Starting to paint!
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  • Sylviaewilkinson Sylviaewilkinson on Jun 23, 2017

    No question.


    I just wanted to say what a beautiful job you did on this piece! I have completed some similar items but haven't used the empire furniture as a base. I recently received one as a gift and it is in refinish/repurpose phase.


    Thank you for more inspiration.


    SEW

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  • Paulette Welch Paulette Welch on Jul 27, 2017

    I love this ... I picked up a nearly identical piece in the trash about a year ago, and made a grill cart out of it, storing grilling accessories and adding towel holders to side with s-hooks for hanging utensils... it became more of a storage unit and rarely got rolled out to the pit. I am going to use your piece as inspiration and remove the drawers creating an open bar, keeping the top drawer for openers and such. Thanks for giving new life to pieces that would have ended up in a landfill.

  • Stacy Nutter Stacy Nutter on May 07, 2021

    I'm so anticipating doing this project, that I've already gotten My Sisters' consent to let Me have Her old French Provincial style dresser for ($0!💖), once I've moved into My house 😍



    • Stacy Nutter Stacy Nutter on May 07, 2021

      Oh yeah... I forgot to mention; since it's a more modern style version it has a laminate top instead of wood; another plus 😍

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