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    Uncategorized » Amazing Waterfall Dresser Makeover - eBook

    Amazing Waterfall Dresser Makeover - eBook

    Published by Gail | Published February 18, 2009 | Updated April 9, 2019
    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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    I’m so excited to show you this amazing waterfall dresser makeover! I showed you the ugly waterfall piece in my recent finds post yesterday. It was a free find, right here in my own neighborhood. This project was one of the quickest turnarounds I've done in a long, long, time--only FOUR days!

     

    MyRepurposedLife.com Amazing Waterfall Dresser Makeover

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    Vintage Waterfall Dresser

    ugly waterfall dresserThis poor guy was headed to the dumpster, and I got it just in time. I really didn’t want to paint it, but I didn’t know if I would be able to remove all the “beautiful” artwork. The dresser really was in pretty good shape besides the graffiti, and a few veneer issues. Even the drawers work really well.

     

    *Amazon Affiliate Links included in this post for your convenience*

    how to remove graffiti from furniture

    citristrip stripperI don’t usually like stripping furniture, but I thought this might be a relatively easy job since there weren’t a lot of details on the drawers. I used Citristrip and a cheap chip brush to spread it around.

    How to strip a waterfall dresser

    citristrip removes sharpieI paid extra attention to the portions of the drawer that had been drawn on with sharpie markers.

     

    wipe-with-mineral-spiritsThis is how the drawers looked after a coat of Citristrip and then being wiped off with Lacquer Thinner.

     

    Sanding vs Stripping

    oribital sanderBut, that really wasn’t good enough. I had to sand each of the drawers, I probably should have left the Citristrip on longer, or done another application.

    sandpaperI used 60, 150, then 220 grit sandpaper. Buying these multipacks of sandpaper is a lot more economical if you do a lot of projects.

    Paint Sprayer for Furniture

    homeright finish maxI used some newspaper and painter’s tape to cover the top of the waterfall dresser so I could use my Homeright Finish Max to paint the sides and the bottom front. I used the same blue oops paint that I recently used on my hall table.

     

     

    diy chalky paint primerThis is after 2 very light coats of the diy chalky paint primer – latex mixed with Plaster of Paris. The next day, I did one more light coat of the chalky paint primer.

    Because this oops paint is a satin sheen, I will be waxing this project.

     

    Stain waterfall dresser top

    minwax dark walnutI used some Minwax PolyShades in Dark Walnut for staining the drawers and the top of this waterfall dresser. I applied the stain with a small chip brush.

     

     

    waterfall dresser hardware

    See the BLUE arrows? I had to make some changes to the hardware of the dresser. The metal hardware had some tortoise shell (?) inserts. One of them was broken, and I didn’t think it looked good with the blue paint, so I removed them.

    The long wooden drawer pulls were covered with paper. I applied stripper to them without even considering that fact. You can see the BLUE arrow is pointing where some of the paper had been scuffed off.

     

     

    waterfall wooden drawer handlesThis is how the wooden pulls looked after they were stripped and sanded. I painted them with a few light coats of the chalky paint primer.

    Using packing paper for sanding

    brown paper sandingI sanded them in between coats with brown craft paper, the kind that comes in my packages from Amazon.

     

     

    amazing waterfall dresser makeover MyRepurposedLife.comAt first I thought I wasn’t going to like the blue wooden drawer pulls, but they are growing on me.

     

     

    MyRepurposedLife.com blue waterfall dresser makeoverThe white finial, and the yellow bird were both Christmas presents from Jamie and Andy. This picture is a good shot of the side of the dresser (which in real life, I refer to as a chest of drawers).

     

    blue dark walnut waterfall dresser makevoer MyRepurposedLife.com

    The old guy still has some issues, but he looks a LOT better than he did, don’t you think?

     

    This might be one of my quickest turnarounds in a while. I picked it up last tuesday and finished it on Saturday!

    Would you have saved it from the dumpster and drug it home?

    gail

    This is another Vintage Waterfall Chest of Drawers  I saved from a fate worse than death!

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    Hi, there! I’m Gail Wilson, the author and mastermind behind My Repurposed Life. I’m obsessed with finding potential in unexpected places and believe that with a little hard work and imagination, any old thing can be made useful again—myself included! I hope you’ll enjoy the journey and pick up a few tools along the way… literally!

    More about me →

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