My first free find...

While I was researching how to refinished my daughter's dresser, I came across this blog by Shaunna West, PerfectlyImperfect. I was truly inspired! One of her projects was an old buffet that she had refinished and was using as a console table. At the time, my TV was sitting on a half falling apart particle board piece of furniture, so this became my next project.

I found this dresser on Craigslist for FREE!! That is, if you count carrying it down three flights of stairs free :-)

Even after the bedroom makeover my BF was still not convinced that this was a worthwhile endeavor.  This project has forever changed his mind. 

This was the free dresser before I painted it.

 This is another before picture of the dresser that was to be transformed.
You can see the rough shape it was in.

 I gave just a very light sanding to the surfaces.

 

After everything was lightly sanded and wiped down, I got out the paint.
I went with the brightest color I could find. Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Emperor's Silk.
A bright Red!

 

This is after two coats of Annie Sloan Emperor's Silk. I liked the way you could still see some of the wood grain come through. I hadn't really expected that, although I read that was often the case with with this kind of wood.  

I was very tempted to leave it this bright color. I thought it looked great. But as I've heard it said, you can't really go wrong; you can try different things and see how they turn out. 

I'm glad I went with the more subdued look of the dark wax
on top of the Annie Sloan Emperor's Silk.

Close up after adding dark wax on Annie Sloan Emperor's Silk

I like the picture above because it really shows how the dark wax settles in to all the little grooves of the wood. 

Here is one drawer after the dark wax and one drawer before the dark wax

This was my first project using the dark wax and I will say that it took a little getting used to, and it was a bit more work than I anticipated.  Unlike the clear wax you have to be more careful in applying it evenly on various parts and pieces of your project.  Some parts ended up a little darker than others, but I say it adds to the charm.

After getting it painted,  I removed the two top drawers, painted the inside red, and drilled a small whole in the back for wires. My TV now sites on top with the cable box, DVD player, and video games where the top drawers used to be.  The bottom drawers are just the right size to house all our DVDs.


The previous particle board TV stand made it to the dump :-(