Blog Post #313: From Hot Mess to Elegant

Thrift Store Dresser

There are many things to consider when buying furniture from a thrift store, such as the overall condition and quality, cost of repairs, unpleasant odors, etc. But one more important item that needs to be factored into a purchase decision is whether or not new hardware will be needed.

I purchased this 6-drawer chest-on-chest dresser for a rock bottom price, but you'll notice in the photos that seven of the twelve drawer pulls are mismatched or missing. Twelve new pulls would really eat into my profit. Usually I can find something at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, but sometimes their quantities are limited and I would need to wait for their sale. I found many that I liked online, but the cheapest were $4.99 plus shipping which would have come to about $70. In my world that is a budget buster! Hang on and keep reading and I'll share with you my bargain solution later in this blog post.

But before I share my solution to the drawer-pull conundrum, I'll share another secret with you. I cleaned and scrubbed the dresser before bringing it inside my house. And I thought I did a fairly good job with the cleaning. But as you'll see I was sadly mistaken.

I purchased a cleaner/deglosser solution for another project recently (link to brand I've used in the past which is also readily available at hardware stores). The brand I used most recently is Heirloom Traditions (I ordered it online). It doesn't have a harsh chemical smell, and unlike other deglossers it doesn't need to be rinsed prior to painting. A little bit of this stuff goes a long way, so since I had some left I decided to use it as part of my prep-work for the dresser. I poured some directly on the top of the dresser and then used a scrubby sponge to work it around (I put gloves on after taking the photo).

Imagine my surprise when I saw what was coming off onto my rag!

This is what I removed after one application of the product. I can't believe I thought it was already clean!

It took two applications over the entire dresser to get a clean result, but it was definitely worth it.

Now that it is cleaned and prepped for painting, I need to address the mismatched drawer pulls. There were five original pulls. Also two original rosette back plates remained, but they were missing the handles. My solution was to change the top drawers to single pull handles. I wanted to use the original pulls on the remaining bottom three drawers, but since I only had five remaining and needed six, I decided to use the rosette back plates on the bottom drawer and add replacement handles.

I filled in the outermost holes on the top drawers with wood filler prior to painting.

Since I couldn't find an exact match for the handles, I purchased two with a similar shape and painted them to match. It looked a little off to me, so in the end I painted all the handles to match the color of the dresser. This helped everything fade slightly into the background. In any event, you can see if the "after" photos and judge for yourself. In the end I purchased 6 new pulls for the top drawers (the glass pulls are cheaper than bail pulls) and two new handles for the bottom drawers. My total cost for the new knobs and handles came in at $20 including shipping. Much better than my initial $70 cost!

AFTER:

This project really did go from a hot mess to elegant!

I used Bliss as the main color and Antique White for the accent color (Jolie brand matte finish paint).

The glass pulls on the top really add a touch of elegance.

The bottom drawer pulls don't match perfectly, but painting the pulls to match the dresser helps trick the eye so it isn't as obvious.

The overall color looked a little flat to me, so I added some white wax which gave a subtle hint of dimension to the color.

 You can see the detail of the white wax better here in this photo.

Thank you for stopping by The Black Sheep Shoppe today. I hope you enjoyed my project.

𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣𝅳𛲣𛲣𛲣𛲣