A sweet client of mine asked me to refinish a chest of drawers that she found in an alley.
FOUND IN AN ALLEY!
Why can’t I ever have luck like that?
Anyhow, I was worried since someone was willing to just throw it away, that the repairs would be lengthy. Fortunately they were not. I had seen much worse (remember the red country cabinet? yeah.). Almost all the drawers needed to be glued, clamped, nailed secure, or all three. Two of the drawers needed some additional wood pieces to slide in and out smoothly.
Here is the worse of the two after I cut a new piece to replace the section that was missing:
Most drawer insides for antiques are made with poplar because it is a smooth wood, harder than pine, but lightweight. So I bought poplar to make the replacement. However, after I got the replacement piece cut out and went to fit it into place, I found out the drawer sides seemed to be made with red oak, hence the color difference.
Confession: I didn’t actually cut the replacement piece by myself. A good friend of mine is a woodworker and has all the necessary tools. I first made a template by tracing the shape of the missing piece on a piece of paper, then cut it out. Then, I transfered that shape to the piece of wood and he and I cut the piece with a table saw (including the dovetails). Lastly we used a router to make the groove where the drawer bottom would slide into place. I had to sand a little to get it to fit right, then glued it and used wood filler to fix any gaps.
I painted the entire chest with two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Arles. Then I distressed it with a mix of 80 and 150 grit sandpaper.
The 80 grit will give you a nice scratchy look and the 150 will give you a softer distress, lightly revealing the darker wood underneath.
Lastly, I used clear and dark wax to achieve a rich, aged look.
The knobs are a pretty, aged-looking glass.
I love the classic shape of an empire chest or dresser! And that elephant painting is one I did in a college painting class. I was an art major until I got pregnant and then realized I needed to pick a degree that required less credit hours. I still have my easel and oil paints though! Some day…
Can you see the almost purple reflection on the painting and top drawer fronts? Yeah, that’s the TV my kids were watching. I have to distract them when taking pictures of furniture because they LOVE to jump in at the last minute with devilish expressions.
So the fun surprise with this dresser was the old newspapers and lady’s satchels that were in one of the top drawers! My client really lucked out with all these treasures!
Here’s a couple fun things I found in a couple of the papers:
Doesn’t that “Dub of the Year” look a lot like a young Robert DeNiro?
Some Hollywood gossip, of course! Who doesn’t love that?!?
Who wants some mid-century modern bedroom sets for under $200?
Such a cute chest with a great history, having come all the way from Rhode Island, ditched in an alley in downtown St Louis, then rescued, revived and now loved in her new home in West County!
Linking up with these AWESOME sites:
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I love an empire dresser and the color looks great! You are quite the artist as well. 🙂
You are so freaking talented!! It’s one thing to paint furniture but to be an actual artist is amazing! I love the dresser too and those old papers!
You are so freaking talented!! It’s one thing to paint furniture but to be an actual artist is amazing! I love the dresser too and those old papers!
Gorgeous! Love the color choice! The newspapers make this even more special….such history with these pieces!
Robin
Thank you so much!! It is gorgeous!!!
wow what a cool story!!! the dresser is gorgeous (of course!), and your painting is incredible! so many talents, rachel 🙂
Oh, Rachel. The dresser is beautiful and my goodness that painting is so gorgeous. You are so talented. Great repair job on the drawer, I was thinking you did that all by yourself and then I was going to be doubley impressed. Such a great dresser and I loved hearing the history behind and all those clippings. x
It looks great. It is the next ASCP color I am going to try. I planned to do my Welsh dresser with it. Thanks for the display. I knew it was the correct choice 🙂
Love it when I find cool stuff hidden inside the dresser! Great color!
I just bought the twin to this dresser at an antique mall in Maplewood! I cannot wait to get to work on it. Great job!
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Thanks for sharing at Silver Pennies Sundays! x