Restained Wood Dresser (in which I establish a no-mustaches in the bedroom rule)

July 23, 2012 by Anne 11 Comments

Well, Kenny and I have actually finished a project. Cue the banjos! In celebration. Because we like folksy music.

We sanded down a dresser to within an inch of its life here. Kenny deserves 98% of the credit, because he has the patience of a saint when it comes to sanding. Then we slapped some stain on it. That was more my speed–instant gratification without physical exertion.

From the get-go, we knew we wanted to replace the hardware on the dresser because the handles closely resembled mustaches. Kind of like these handles:

See!?!? Do you see the resemblance to a mustache? I didn’t take actual photos of the hardware for fear that my two readers would stop reading my blog. Yes. The hardware was that scary. I might incorporate them into my next Halloween costume.

Since I refuse to have any mustaches in my future bedroom (that goes for you too, Ken.), this past weekend, we spent an arm and a leg on some fancy hardware for this guy. Here’s a handle:

And here’s the whole thing (the drawers aren’t pushed in all the way because the finish is still curing a little):

KaBam! I know. I can’t stop looking at pictures of it either. I’ll understand why my blog stats spike on this post. So beautiful.

As for a budget–Plan A was to buy an IKEA Hemnes dresser in black/brown, which costs about $250.

We got this one for free from Kenny’s parents–and it is good. solid. wood.

We spent probably $30 on sandpaper, stain, and poly, and another $40 on hardware–so about $70 all told.

Not only did we “save” $180-ish on this, I love this one way more than anything I could get at IKEA. MMM.

Stay tuned for more!

UPDATE: Here it is in it’s final resting place (not!):