Amazing Waterfall Chest of Drawers Makeover
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I’m excited to show you this fantastic waterfall chest of drawers (dresser) makeover! It was a free find right here in my neighborhood. This sad dresser was headed to the trash. This project was one of the quickest turnarounds I’ve done in a long time- only FOUR days!
Vintage Waterfall Chest of Drawers
This poor gal was headed to the dumpster, and I got it just in time. I didn’t want to paint it, but I didn’t know if I could remove all the “beautiful” artwork. Besides the graffiti, the dresser was in pretty good shape, with a few veneer issues. Even the drawers work really well.
It’s Furniture Fixer Upper Tour Day! Be sure to visit my friends’ projects at the bottom of this post.
How to Remove Graffiti From Furniture
I 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.
Visit the My Repurposed Life Amazon Store to shop my favorite items.
How to Strip a Waterfall Chest of Drawers
I paid extra attention to the portions of the drawer that had been drawn on with Sharpie markers.
This is how the drawers looked after a coat of Citristrip, which was then wiped off with Lacquer Thinner.
Sanding vs Stripping
But 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. Sometimes, I get impatient. Can you relate to me?
I used 60, 150, then 220 grit sandpaper. Buying these multipacks of sandpaper is much more economical if you do a lot of DIY projects.
Paint Sprayer for Furniture
I used newspaper and painter’s tape to cover the top of the waterfall chest of drawers 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 used on my hall table.
This is after two very light coats of the diy chalky paint primer – latex mixed with Plaster of Paris. The next day, I did one more chalky paint primer light coat.
I will wax this project because this oops paint is a satin sheen.
Related Content: Navy Blue Furniture Projects
Stain Waterfall Chest of Drawers Top
I used some Minwax PolyShades in Dark Walnut to stain the drawers and the top of this waterfall chest of drawers. I applied the stain with a small chip brush.
See the BLUE arrows? I had to make some changes to the dresser’s hardware. The metal hardware had some tortoiseshell (?) 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 pointing to where some of the paper had been scuffed off.
This 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.
Use Packing Paper For Sanding
I sanded them in between coats with brown craft paper, the kind that comes in my packages from Amazon. Occasionally, the DIY Chalky Paint Primer leaves a rough residue.
Did you know? This furniture was named “Waterfall” due to its distinctive rounded drops at the edges of all horizontal surfaces, thought to resemble a flowing waterfall. Pieces in this style were usually finished with a blond veneer, though a small percentage were finished in a darker walnut finish.
At first, I thought I wouldn’t like the blue wooden drawer pulls, but they are growing on me.
The white finial and the yellow bird were 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).
The old gal still has some issues, but she looks a LOT better than she did. Do you agree?
Would you have saved it from the dumpster and dragged it home?
This is another Vintage Piece I saved from a fate worse than death!
Let’s see what the rest of the team has been working on:
- DIY Sideboard Buffet
- How to Blackwash Over Existing Furniture Finish
- The Amazing Waterfall Dresser Makeover (you are here)
- Small Table Makeover With Chock Paint
- Estate Sale Dresser With Transfer
A stunning chest, Gail! I’m so glad you saved the beautiful pattern, and I love the way the dark blue paint frames and draws attention to the vintage craftsmanship. Bravo!
Hi Gail,
I just started following your blog and enjoy seeing your amazing transformations. Can you tell me why you mix Plaster of Paris with your paint? Is it is used as a primer and it adheres better? I thought chalk paint could be applied directly without prep.
I love this! I’m guessing that by waxing the sides, it turned it the darker blue. Hubby loves it too he is a blue fan. Would be nice to see transformation from light blue to the dark side by side. ( what tint did you use?) I would have never thought the wax would make such a difference in color! Very nice Gail! And thanks for saving the wood as much as you could!
I love it. I think the wood finish mixed with the paint is perfect and the color you picked is beautiful. Wonderful job! ?
Love love love this piece!!! So happy you embraced the wood grain on this one…and you know I am a “paint it all” kid of gal! A++
I would have saved it from the dumpster and brought it home, but nothing I would have done to it would have been as successful as what you’ve done here. The blue looks very regal, and the wood grain is beautiful. I’m impressed with your removal of the ‘art work’. Nice job!
Not sure the web part, but they do like like a frame when they are made. I made them for my buffets, you can see here: http://followyourheartwoodworking.blogspot.ca/2010/01/buffet-hutch-part-four-buffet-sides-and.html
(Didn’t mean to hijack Gail’s post!)
Well, who’dathot it!!!!
Thanks , Julie. I took a quick look at your shop rehab post and will look some more later. I can see why you know the name of those thingys..LOL
Great looking site.
Any idea WHY they are called that? Quick search online brought up nothing. I’ll look some more. Maybe it’s in one of the OLD furniture books……if I can find which box i packed them in….
Thanks again for the enlightenment…….hmmm…I wonder how web frames would do as the answer to a question on quiz night at the pizza parlor? I’d win that one, for sure…….LOL
Regards, MJ
Very, very nice! When I look at it from a distance, it almost looks like the top drawer pulls are eyes with lashes!
Beautiful makeover! Love the pattern the wood grain makes on the front & the pulls are perfect! The stain & the blue were made for each other!
What a transformation! When I saw all that Sharpie nonsense, I was a bit worried. Silly me. Love the way you handled the color – just the right touches. Beautiful!
I’m sorry, but this is ugly. I have a similar dresser that I hate as well, so I was excited to see what you did to it, so maybe I could copy it with mine! But I was quite disappointed to see it almost the same, minus the stickers. I really just don’t like these style of dressers, I guess. Mine have 2 big yellowish round plastic drawer pulls on each drawer (more than half are actually mssing) which are uglier than the dresser. At first I thought I liked the solid wood “handle” on your lower drawers but after looking at it again, I’m not sure. The 2 handles on your top drawer look like eyes and the whole thiing looks like a bird to me. If you come up with any ideas or have done a dresser like this in the past, I’d be glad to hear about it! I thought about chopping it off below the second drawer and making a hope-chest style bench by adding feet. Have another dresser I’m going to do that with as well, but I don’t know if the rounded edge on top would work out ok.
I spent several days on this piece, so I can’t see how you say it was the same as before except the STICKERS? That was sharpie markers-permanent markers… not for the faint of heart. 😉
Waterfall isn’t my favorite type of furniture, I wouldn’t put this in my home-not my style. That being said, I do have a beautiful waterfall cedar chest that was given to me 50 years ago because my aunt passed away and I’m her namesake. I won’t ever paint it, and I love it because it still contains her items, but only for that reason.
I love cutting up furniture, but I try to save those projects for items that are in disrepair. This piece had great bones and was very sturdy, no saw needed.
Thanks for your honest feedback, I don’t expect everyone to love all of my projects. To each his own.
gail