Are you wondering how I manage to find so many good pieces on craigslist?  Well, I have a secret weapon.  A craigslist spotter in the form of my neighbor Karen (a.k.a. nnK).  Not only does she spot stuff for me, but while I was away in Las Vegas, nnK and Ken went and picked a dresser up for me as well.  How lucky am I?

There is an interesting twist to this story.  You see, this dresser was listed for a mere $45.  nnK spotted it and went into action quickly.  She contacted the seller and set up a time to pick it up the very next morning.  She texted me and asked if she should offer $40.  I replied lickety split and said no!  I knew there would be numerous buyers waiting in line for this dresser.  Pay full price and pick up promptly.  This is the rule to live by if you want to get bargains on craigslist.

This is where the story takes a turn.  You see, later that evening, the seller contacted nnK and said she’d had multiple offers on the dresser, including a buyer who was willing to pay $60 and pick it up immediately.  She would be willing to hold it for us though, if we would pay the $60!  Has this ever happened to you with a craigslist purchase?  I’m sure a lot of you are now thinking maybe it would be time to walk away.  But, no, $60 was still a pretty good deal for this dresser … at least from my perspective sitting in Las Vegas sipping a margarita.  So I told nnK to go for it.

I don’t regret it, it did turn out lovely … but a closer inspection showed that this dresser was in pretty rough shape.  The bottoms were falling out of the drawers.  The top was badly warped.  One drawer had a huge gouge across the top of it.  Several of the drawer slides were falling off.  It was missing two drawer pulls.  Yikes!  $45 was really a fair price, but when you have a bidding war what can you do?  Walk away, or pay more.  I had secret weapon no. 2 in my back pocket though, Ken.  He fixed all of these problems with a few tools, some wood glue and a lot of know-how.  The most complicated repair was the side of this drawer where the bottom had completely broken away.

Ken added a new piece of wood to the side of the drawer to hold the bottom in place.  Clever!  We also used a complicated systems of pulleys and levers to deal with the warped top … well, not really, but we did use a giant clamp, some glue and a screw that was cleverly hidden under the back trim piece.

I knew all along I wanted to paint this dresser in Miss Mustard Seed’s Kitchen Scale.  This color is so fabulous to work with.  It goes on so quickly, covers well in two coats and dries in minutes.  Not to mention, it is just simply gorgeous.  Instead of my usual hemp oil finish, I decided to use a combination of clear wax and antique wax on this piece to add a little more dimension.

I also added all new glass knobs.

I hadn’t originally intended to stencil this dresser, but when I realized I had the perfect “PARIS” for that medallion, it seemed like a no brainer.

I lined the top two drawers with some of my favorite October Afternoon scrapbook paper.

In the end, this dresser is just lovely.  It’s the perfect size to be tucked in to just about any spot.  Of course it would work in a bedroom, but you could also put this one in a kitchen, bathroom, hallway, mud room, laundry room … you name it.  I’ll be taking this one to Junk Bonanza with me and I’m sure it will go to a good home!