Breathing New Life Into A Chest Of Drawers

Because I have "project A.D.D.", I typically have about 4 or more things going on at our house at any given time...on TOP of my 40 hour a week day job.  So when I get home at night, the first thing I do is change clothes and decide which project I'm feeling for the day.

I've had this chest of drawers in my garage for about a month now.  It was a $10 thrift store find that my hubby brought home to me.  It was so badly damaged, honestly it overwhelmed me a bit.  The wood veneer on the sides had large places missing or chipped off, one of the top drawers has a corner missing (it looks like something bit it off), the drawers were coming apart on the bottoms and huge chunks and gouges were scratched into the top.



The first thing I did was grab some wood filler and my sander and attempted to fix  the top.  It evened everything out... but still looked awful, so I put it back in the garage and focused on other things.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I finally decided to work on it again.  I made the decision that if I can't get the top to look right, I'll just make a new one... I could see where it was screwed on, so that should be easy enough.  I primed the entire thing, using this primer (it's fab, and no I am not being paid...all thoughts are my own)... Now, let me say, I know this is backwards and I knew that I'd probably have to prime it again, but it gave me some "thinking time" and the ability to see where all of the (unwanted) imperfections were located.  You can see in the photo below where the wood veneer is coming off of the side at the bottom.

It doesn't really look that bad, but the opposite side was so much worse and of course I didn't get a picture of that... because my impulsive side took over and this happened.

Yeah... I need a lesson in patience.  I know this about myself and that's the first step, right?  :)  What you see above is the veneer.  I had a revelation when I was priming and decided to pull it all off and give it something completely different!

So, I gave the kiddo a quick lesson in removing wooden veneer (slide the scraper to an edge and gently tap the hammer in, then just pry it away) and a safety lesson about hammers.

And before you know it, he was a master!

All done!

While he was working on that, I was brainstorming on the opposite side with the design I am planning.  Here's a sneak peek.  It looks a bit rough, but I can see in my mind how it will turn out and it's perfect!

I'll attach those boards with a small space between them, then outline the outer sides with more trim and use wood-filler and caulk to make it look like one continuous frame around the boards... here's a rough drawing of what I am talking about.  It will all be painted white and look great... really!

So, that's where I stand now.  Looks like I have a long weekend ahead, but I get to saw a bunch of stuff... so I'm happy!

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