Before & After: Weather Worn Dresser Gets Rescued
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(Image credit: Meredith)
This poor dresser sat out all winter, but Meredith decided it was worth trying to save. See how she restored it to its former glory.
(Image credit: Meredith)
From Meredith:
A former tenant had left this outside of a property all last winter…yes, that winter that started the first week of October and didn’t end until the last week of April. I had met my maintenance man at the property and we were deciding what to keep and what to take to the dump. The dresser was in very weather worn condition but when I tried all the drawers, they actually all worked. At some point, this was a very nice dresser. The drawers were all dove-tailed and all wood. I thought I’d try my hand at refinishing the dresser – what did I have to lose – it was free and if I destroyed it, I could always paint it and sell it at a garage sale. Once summer came, I had it in my garage and began sanding the piece. I used a bosch electric hand sander. At first I used a fine sandpaper and kept sanding and sanding and sanding. Finally, I called my maintenance man and asked what would happen if I used a much ruffer grit. He said to try it and the white colored weathered part became dust and I was able to get to the nice wood and beautiful grain. I sanded the entire piece including the legs and the inside of the drawers. It probably was a couple weeks of on and off sanding in my driveway. Once I got down to the beautiful wood grain, I decided I would stain the entire piece except leave the drawer handles the natural wood color. I applied Rust-Oleum Ultimate Wood Stain in American Walnut with a foam brush and wiped it with an old white tshirt. Once the stain dried, I applied Rust-Oleum Ultimate Polyurethane in a gloss finish – again with a foam brush. It was an amazing transformation.
Thank you Meredith!