Dresser and Vanity Makeover

For many years on my own with 5 kids, I became very resourceful at decorating my home on a tight budget. Even after my kids were out on their own and my income increased I still couldn't justify spending huge amounts of money on furnishing. Plus I loved finding unique one of a kind pieces and making them into something that was truly original for my home.

Then friends started asking me to look for items for them, and that is where my becoming a picker  took off.

Whenever I would see something that I thought a friend or family member might like I would buy it. Then I started to sell some of unique finds and started making a side income. I have always liked decorating and painting so upcycling some of the furniture for resale was an easy transition.

I love finding old discarded pieces that no one else wants and giving them a new look and a new life.

 

When I saw this yellow dresser I saw much more than the paint and what it looked like now. I saw what it could be.

Not so pretty in its present state, painted yellow and covered in crackle, not a look that flattered it

I have been painting everything lately and I decided to strip the top and see what the wood looked like. The wood grain was gorgeous, so I stained it with a walnut stain and added two coats of polyurethane. I enjoyed working with stain again, but not the stripper so much. Boy that is messy stuff. I sanded all the crackle paint down and painted the dresser in Paris grey paint.

 

 

The dresser has some very nice detail that you could not really see when it was painted yellow, all you could see was the ugly yellow paint. I also spray painted the handles black, they were a shiny brassy colour before. Forgot to take a before pic, i was so eager to paint them. ooops

 

And here she is all finished and beautiful, see all the gorgeous detail that you did not see before

And I think the wood grain top makes it look stunning

I am going to sell this as a dresser/entertainment centre

if you take out the top drawers on each side you would have a spot for your DVD and your cable box

and then just put your TV on top. lots of storage in the drawers for movies etc

 

I also finished up a vanity that I was working on

 

 

This is what the vanity looked like when I bought it, cute, but can look better

 

I painted the vanity in Anne Sloan Paris Grey and painted the brass handles black

But I am not done yet.........

 

 

I had a mirror from another vanity that I added to this vanity

 

 

I added this stool to the vanity and had originally covered the top in Toile fabric

But then I came across this fabric and knew it would look great with the vanity

The fabric was a pillow cover, but I took it apart removed the zipper and covered the top of the stool

 

And here is the vanity with the mirror and stool, I think they all look great together

I thought the top of the vanity looked too plain, so I decided to add some graphics to match the stool

 

 

I added some writing and modge podged a stamp onto the desk

 

 

 

And here is the vanity with mirror, stool and graphics  

I know its not the greatest staging pic, but like I said before this house is really really small

At least its a little better than taking my after pics in the garage

 

I enjoyed working on both of these pieces and they are both for sale

The weather is getting colder which makes it a little hard to work in a unheated garage

But as you can see I am making the best of it

Can you imagine how much work I could get done if i had a huge heated shop

I would be like a furniture assembly line

one day I hope..............

 

And now on to the next project

 

Hope everyone is having a great week

Happy Picking and Happy Painting

 

 

hugs

 

 

 

 

And

Maggie

(her lil tongue sticks out when she is tired)