Free Dresser Refurb.

One day last summer, the Hubs and I were headed out on an errand, I can imagine we were on our way to the hardware store…we usually are. As we drove through our neighborhood I noticed a dresser sitting in front of a neighbors house with a sign on it that said “free”.

Hubs uses the baskets for his socks, ties, and belts.

I confess that I still live the college mentality that if something is free I NEED it! Hubs did really need a dresser, since he didn’t have one, and I wasn’t about to share mine.

So on our way home we stopped and picked it up. It definitely wasn’t the most beautiful piece of craftsmanship every. It probably came from Walmart or Target. But it had drawers and we needed a place to put Hubs drawers so it was a perfect fit.

The top three drawers were broken so as we looked at it we decided we would make the top drawers into a shelf, paint the whole thing white and the drawer fronts gray and get some new hardware.

Discovery is always your number one step in furniture referbs. You need to take whatever it is apart and see what it is you have to work with.

Our first step was sanding the whole unit including drawer fronts. It had been painted several times, and it ate through about seven sanding pads just to get a smooth surface. We used furring strips cut to length for the shelf to give the piece a more rustic look….it reminded me of hardwood flooring.  In the above picture we just cut three pieces of furring strip to fit in between the drawers, after looking at it for a while, and with some input from my genius mother, we decided to cut one long piece for the front and notch out where the spacers were. I put two coats of polyurethane on the furring strips to give them a little extra protection and used a furniture wax on the top to keep it from beat up.

Hubs picked a gray paint for the drawer fronts and a simple knob hardware. I found the perfect size baskets for the shelves at The Container Store.

Even though its technically Hubs dresser my stuff always managers to find a way onto it.