The Dresser Refinish

I shared with you how busy my spring and summer has been due to the amount of travelling I had to do for work.  Well, now that the travel has slowed down, I've been able to devote time to making my sewing space visually appealing.  I finally got all of my pattern boxes decorated, assembled, labeled and filled.  Yes, a couple of them are decorated differently, and the color saturation on others is a little off, but they're all done.  I will revisit the "odd" units at another time.

I reorganized the storage space under my Project Table - as well as changed out the support leg to one more visually appealing...

...and I set about refinishing my dresser.

This turned out to be a pretty big project.  This piece of furniture is well-constructed and quite heavy, especially when filled with my various sewing supplies and notions.  While emptying the drawers, I noticed one of them is labeled "Widdicomb Modern Original" and I became curious.

I learned the Widdicomb Furniture Company started as a cabinet shop in Grand Rapids, MI in 1858 and had quite an interesting history.  As best as I can tell, my dresser was most likely made in the 1950s.  When I saw how much other Widdicomb furniture pieces sold for online, I began to have second thoughts about refinishing mine.  But, since I had no plans of selling and it was more important to me that it looked good, I followed through with my refinishing plans.

As you can see, this dresser has seen better days.  The surface - top, front and sides - were quite worn.

I purchased two sets of furniture moving pads because this dresser is quite heavy and has not been moved since its initial placement in 1999.  I recognized that I would have to move this dresser from its position in the room so I could get access to all sides.  This is what 16 years of dust looks like.  YUCK!!!  It almost goes without saying my allergies were quite active this day.

Before - oh, how embarrassing!

After - not perfect, but much, much better!!

With some of the existing drawer knobs being damaged, I bought replacements on clearance a couple of years ago at my local Lowe's store.  The knobs fit perfectly, but the handles required new placement holes on 8 of the dresser fronts.

I used my orbital sander to remove the remaining finish and smooth out all of the dresser's surfaces, applied several coats of Valspar Signature Paint + Primer in New Black, sealed all of the surfaces with several coats of Rust-oleum Ultimate Polyurethane in High Gloss to protect the finish, and wrapped it all up with the new knobs and handles.

I left the furniture pads in place under each side of the dresser, should the need arise to move it again...like for cleaning!

 I absolutely love how this dresser looks now.  It is so elegant, while still maintaining its work-horse status in my sewing space.

What I especially love is that all of the furniture in my Sewing Room looks like they go together...no more make-do appearance of mismatched furnishings.

Sewing Table top...

...and base

Project Table

1 of 2 video cabinets...

Desk...although it's decorate a little differently now

Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to leave your comments below.

Be blessed!

Aisha