Rustic Antique Dresser
by Patricia
3 Materials
I found this sweet antique dresser at a thrift shop when I was out of town. I wasn’t sure I would have enough room for it . . . unless I left one of my traveling companions behind. But luckily for my traveling companions I was able to squeeze it into my truck and bring it home.
The dresser itself is sturdy, but the finish was in bad shape. I used my orbital sander to sand the top, but I couldn’t sand it down far enough to get a completely smooth finish. So instead I decided to work with what I had and chose to go with a rustic finish.
Top before sanding
After sanding the top as far as I could, I applied two different colors of gel stain to the top. First I applied Prairie Wheat and then Antique Walnut. I used a shop towel to wipe off the excess stain.
I applied two coats of Provence blue Chalk Paint to the base and then sanded it back to give it a worn finish.
The blue was beautiful as-is, but I wanted to age it slightly, so I added a java glaze and then wiped it back so it wouldn’t be too overpowering. I sealed the paint with soft clear wax.
I was going to paint the drawer handles, but I liked how the copper color worked with my color scheme, so I left those as-is.
I applied a coat of Feed-n-Wax to the drawer interiors and it really spruced up the wood!
Both drawers had locks, but alas the dresser didn’t come with a key. Luckily I have a set of skeleton keys, I even better I had a key that fit the locks. I love it when that happens, so at this point I stopped for a brief happy dance.
I sealed the top with a clear coat of urethane.
It’s not perfect, but I love how it turned out.
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4 of 111 comments
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This is beautiful! I have a very similar antique dresser except with 3 drawers. I would love to spruce it up similar to this. Where do I find your blog for more details of the products you used? Thanks in advance!
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Thank you Tracey! There's a link to my blog below the last photo in this post. Or go to http://theblacksheepshoppe.blogspot.com
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I love this..simple and so cool !
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Thank you so much Itsmemic!
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