Fun Dresser Restoring Ideas

Paint

• It’s often easier to paint over an old dresser rather stripping it. Painting does not cause the dresser to loose its character; it may give it more. Sand the finish down first to ensure the paint adheres to the surface, and fill in any holes or scratches with wood filler. Antique the dresser using antiquing glaze wiped on the painted piece, then removed creating an old, streaked effect. Scrape an old comb through a glaze to make a striped finish or employ a sponge or rag to make a stippled, uneven finish.

Other Paint Techniques

• Pickle or whitewash the dresser to allow wood grain to show through with a little color. Any color will do, but white paint wiped on and rubbed off quickly works best. Do not apply a base coat in order to keep the wood grain visible under the paint. Whitewashing is similar, done by applying a thin coat of white paint and allowing what is underneath to continue to show through. The finish is more opaque while pickling is transparent.

Hardware Changes

• Sometimes just adding new hardware to an old dresser makes it look brand new. Remove knobs and draw pulls by unscrewing from the inside of the drawers. If necessary, fill the holes left by old hardware with wood filler and paint over. Replace with new modern knobs in crystal, porcelain, metal, wood and other materials.

Other Embellishments

• Wall decals are vinyl decorations that peel off and smooth on a wall. Use them to decorate the front or top of a dresser. Use alphabet decals for a child’s room dresser and sunny flowers for an adult. Wallpaper adds pizzazz to the front of dresser drawers that might be a little too scratched to fix. Just glue the wallpaper to the front of the drawer with wallpaper glue and cut it to fit with a utility or craft knife. Be creative and use wood skewers to make designs, like strips or star bursts, on the dresser. Glue them on and leave them plain or paint over them when painting the dresser for a raised design.

Use Somewhere Else

• No one ever said a dresser had to be in a bedroom, after refinishing, it might be just the thing for the family room to store craft supplies, toys and hold the television. Put one in a nook in the bathroom to hold towels, or make a sink cabinet by removing the backs of the drawers and adding the plumbing on the inside. Install a sink and faucets on top of the dresser for a distinctive bathroom cabinet. Old dressers also work well as a buffet in the dining room to hold silverware and tablecloths.