What to Look For In a Vintage Dresser

Today I’m sharing what to look for in a vintage dresser. As a former furniture refinisher who was buying vintage pieces, making them over and selling them in vintage fairs and on Etsy for years, I have developed a solid knowledge of how to identify a quality piece of furniture. Today I’m going to share some of that knowledge with you, which could be helpful if you are trying to decide whether to buy that vintage dresser you have your eye on.

The dresser I’m using to demonstrate is one that I bought about 5 years ago from an estate sale. We no longer needed it and it developed some damage so I knew I wanted to paint it. Here is one of the only pictures I have of the dresser when we first got it (before the damage):

In this video I will discuss some signs of quality-built dressers, like drawer construction, as well identifying what repairs need to be made, so you can decide whether the time required is worth the investment.

As I discussed in the video, the dresser got damaged over the years so a paint job was necessary.

Here is what the finished dresser looked like after I completed the makeover and before I sold it:

If you enjoyed this video, you might enjoy the follow video tutorials about this same dresser:

“How to Repair a Wood Drawer Slide on a Vintage Dresser“

“Repairing Bubbled or Chipped Veneer Before Painting a Dresser“

“How to Prep & Paint a Vintage Dresser“