Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Tell me I'm not the only one.

Does everyone pull out the drawers and inspect before they buy a dresser? Look under and behind and in nightstands? Check that doors close easily on cabinets?

Because I do NONE of those things. None. I'm trying to change my habits but I get so EXCITED when I find something I like at a good price. I grab it and run. Then when I get ready to work on it I notice, oh crap, all that veneer is coming off, there's a crack all the way across a panel, 300 nails must be on that edge. Why, oh why did I buy this piece of crap?

Seriously, I'm trying to change. Meanwhile I have some furniture in my storage room that I am sure is keeping deep, dark secrets.

Like this dresser. Cute little thing isn't it?

I don't even have before pictures because I was sure this would be an easy slam dunk. But no.

Someone had previously done major repairs with duct tape. Duct tape! Outside and inside the drawers. Old duct tape is hard to get off. Old duct tape makes me weep.

Somewhere along the line the drawer bottoms slid out of their slots. And someone nailed them that way.

The bottoms on 3 drawers had all-the-way-through gouges from years of dragging across the metal stops.

Oh, it got worse. Somebody put plastic wood in the gaps where the trim didn't meet the corners. I ended up removing the top so I could glue and clamp and mutter under my breath.

So my plan of quickly painting something to take to the booth became a time consuming repair job that I wasn't in the mood for. Because it took me by surprise. I was seriously cranky.



I painted it with milk paint which cheered me up.


I mismatched the knobs which cheered me up even more.


I stenciled. Neutral feelings on that. I wanted to do a raised stencil but was too chicken to push my luck.


And I ended up with a sweet little dresser. It pays to just hunker down and DO IT.

The paint? I used MMS Dried Lavender on the drawers and panels. The trim is CC Caldwell Seattle Mist and an antique white. Two washes of antique white went over everything, followed by clear wax and a very small amount of dark wax.

In Other News: Inspector 19 returned to work in a limited capacity.


Linking to:





8 comments:

  1. I do the exact same thing, LOL!! It's the spontaneous (overly I might add!), side of us that takes over our common sense sometimes. I get bloody excited over the look before I even check the "bones" of the piece. Luckily I've been able to save myself after bringing it home and looking it over. But one of these days..... one of these days, lol.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This has happened to me more times than I want to admit. I have bid on pieces at the auction and get them home to find all the bad things I missed! ugh! Oh well, it's good that we care enough to try and restore a piece and make it pretty again.

    hugs
    Sissie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Several times, and not just furniture. I once bought a pony harness without inspecting to find out I paid for dryrotted leather. It couldn't be salvaged. At least furniture, even if really bad, can be burned for heat;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are definitely not the only one. First, your dresser came out gorgeous! It was totally worth all the repairs!
    I got a desk at a garage sale over the summer. I couldn't get the drawers out and that should have been the sign not to get it, but I figured they were swollen from the humidity. Fast forward to now and still couldn't get the drawers out. That with all the veneer splitting (must have been in a flood or something) I just had to throw it away. Thank goodness I paid very little for it, but it took up valuable space in my garage this whole summer for no reason!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know why you still don't check things out as you should; 'cause you do an AWESOME job of rebuilding and repairing pieces. Really, it isn't rocket science...in your heart and head you know you can fix things so you jump in. I think that has something to do with being creative...seeing the potential and beauty in things. Jesh, try and keep up with your skills, mkay? LOL

    ReplyDelete
  6. Used to fall in love with the exterior-too many complaints from the hubby now prompts me to open drawers, look at the back, underneath....unless it is just too dang beautiful to pass up-LOL!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Haha. We've all been there. I have found a bra, a note from the past, and an entire capped tooth (how could one misplace that????) all from not pulling out drawers. My friend got one delivered without checking first. When she pulled open the drawers to start, cockroaches!!! Blech! I would have died.

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOL, I do open the drawers because I like doing the happy dance when I find a piece with dovetail joints...and I have a bug phobia. Love the makeover you gave this dresser - colors are great! Found you over at the Furniture Feature Friday Party.
    Marie@InteriorFrugalista

    ReplyDelete