A little project

I have been one busy girl this week and I have been loving it. I love having a project to work that gets my creative juices flowing. The only problem is that now I am have a list of projects that I can't wait to tackle because I can't just stop with one!
I love to check out the furniture for sale on Kijiji randomly to see what is out there for refinishing. Last week I came across this dresser that was solid pine (solid wood is a must) for only $25! I jumped at it at once. Actually the man selling it didn't respond to my first email right away and I was so excited that I emailed him again. It turns out I was lucky because he said he had 20 other emails after mine.
Anyway, it was super ugly but had potential.

It also came with a mirror that attaches to it.

I started sanding it the next day and after two long hours in the sun sanding it looked like this.


I found layers of white paint (several) intermixed with layers of blue, yellow and even some gold paint. I was super discouraged but then in the back of my mind I remembered reading a blog about using furniture paint stripper. I headed to Home Depot and picked some up. All I can say is that it was like liquid magic!! Within an hour I had the paint removed down to the wood. (Just a word of caution if you use this, be sure to buy the gloves that go with it and be fully clothed. I got some on my knee where I had a hole in my jeans and man did it burn)

I decided to paint the dresser black and antique it to go along with a night stand I just did.

After painting the dresser and letting it dry over night I took the sander out and roughed up the edges that I wanted to distress. I then took a dark stain and stained over the entire dresser which gives the distressed areas a more antique look. Finally I put on a clear coat of varathane.
The next step was to find some new hardware and thanks to Lee Valley Tools I had tons to choose from.
Here is a peek at the finished product.

Here is a closer look at the edges.

I decided to put two styles of hardware on it.

Here is a look at what our room is looking like right now (I have a few more projects planned so stay tuned)


I am pretty pleased with the way it all turned out and the fact that I spent less than $60 total on a new (to me) dresser!
I haven't refinished the mirror because I am leaning towards just finding a mirror to hang on the wall opposed to attaching the mirror that came with it BUT I would love our opinion on that one.......what would you do???

Next on the list of projects is to attempt to reupholster a wing back chair that I just acquired for the living room. I have never done one before. Are any of you reupholstering experts??