A Dresser Transformed

One caveat of moving is that all of your furniture might not fit.  I had considered the spacing element, but what I failed to consider was the height limitations of our stairs.  Unfortunately, 2 of our bedroom pieces (along with our box spring) were not able to fit up our stairway.  Our closet is large enough to compensate for the missing pieces but we were left with an open space that needed to be filled and we were missing a place to house our tv.

I wasn't so sad about losing the pieces of furniture, I was sad because I'd have to sell them, knowing good and well I wouldn't get anywhere close to what I paid for them.  Luckily, my mom was able to use our dresser as a buffet/storage piece for her dining room, leaving us with only the armoire to sell.

So I wasn't real excited to throw down a big chunk of change on another piece of furniture.  I looked at IKEA but I wasn't impressed with the quality.  Sure it was inexpensive, but if I was going to spend $300, I would rather buy something nice.  I had in my head that I wanted a piece that I could paint.  I had seen so many inspiration pictures floating around of transformed pieces and I wanted one too!

Exhibit A:

Not really my style but you get the point.

Exhibit B:

 Only a mere $1350 on Joss & Main!  

So I began scouring Craigslist and various consignment shops around town.  I kept coming up with nothing.  I got frustrated because I saw so many awesome finds of fellow bloggers and wondered why my city didn't have more thrift-type stores.  Determined, I looked in the yellow pages online and discovered a thrift store minutes from my office.  

I remember pulling in, talking to my mom, telling her I was about to go in a thrift store but I wasn't going to tell her where it was because I knew she'd be nervous.  Somewhat reluctantly, I went in, totally expecting to find nothing but old, stained, smelly furniture.  Wrong!  I found this beauty.

What?  You don't think it's beautiful?  But look at the bones!  It looks identical to the black one above from Joss & Main but the difference?  It was $20!  And an added bonus, it's Bernhardt!

I had read a lot about Annie Sloan's paint and was enticed by the no sanding, no priming, just paint technique.  For someone who likes instant gratification and is otherwise very impatient, it seemed like it was meant to be.  With paint and wax in hand, I was ready to tackle the project.  

It wasn't long before I was cursing all the hardware on the dresser, the very same hardware that had attacted me to the piece in the first place!  I was determined to keep it in tact, so I removed the removable ones and painted around the corner pieces.

 

One thing I didn't like about the dresser from the beginning was the height.  I wanted it just a tad higher so the top was above the height of our bed, not below or even with it.  I got the idea of attaching some feet or legs to the bottom of.  Upon searching, I found that I would really escalate the price of my cheap find if I bought these legs I found online.  Dang it!  

I thought all hope was lost until I hired a handyman to do a few odd jobs around the house.  He also repairs furniture and didn't even blink an eye when I mentioned adding legs to the bottom of the dresser.  His only question was, "How high?"  

And just like that, the dresser had a whole new look.

Dying to see the finished result?  Tune in later this week for the big reveal!