Mid Century Redo

Flimsy mid century dresser

I love mid century furniture! There's just something about the style that just really appeals to me. So, when I found this dresser/buffet, I rushed to purchase it. I had to drive an hour, but I felt it would be worth it. Dreams of mid century craftsmanship were dancing in my head and how wonderful it would feel to own a piece of nostalgia.

Scratches galore!

When I finally arrived at the seller's home and was able to look at it in person, my excitement faded. The color and style were definitely what I was looking for, but when I touched it and started opening drawers, I could feel that it was a bit flimsy-definitely not the solid piece I had been dreaming of. The wood was not high quality and had many scratches.

Too embarrassed to tell the seller I'd pass (I'm working on becoming a better business person), I bought it and drove home. When my teenage son and I were unloading it from the car, I thought the dresser might fall apart. Nails popped out everywhere and part of the bottom trim fell off!

Determined to salvage my dignity and not let my hubby see what I had bought, I started hammering in the loose nails that were everywhere, fixed the bottom loose trim, and polished up the piece. By the time he got home, it was better.

Blingy Drawer Pulls

I let it sit in my garage for a couple weeks while I decided what to do with the thing. I realized that it needed paint and perhaps a little bit of ornamentation to make it special. I primed it, painted it a nice creamy white, but it was still missing something. I jumped in my minivan and drove to the local craft store. I picked up some balsa wood crosses for 69 cents a piece and 3 girly drawer pulls and headed home.


I primed the crosses and used wood glue to attached them to the drawer fronts. I then painted the drawers with another coat of paint. It started to look good. I decided it needed glazing. I used a mocha color glaze and went to town, making sure to leave more glaze on the crosses. When that dried, I added two coats of polycrylic to protect it and make it shine. The final touch was adding the pulls which added just the right amount of color and shine and bling. 

I was actually changing everything up knowing I was giving it to my friend, Angie, who is all about blingy things. I don't appreciate bling as much as she, but it turned out to be something that even I would love to show off in my home. 

Sorry about the grainy pictures. It was dark and light was not to be had. A Digital SLR is definitely on my wish list.