A while back Mr. Q stopped off at the thrift store to drop off some things and while he was there he decided to take a look at the furniture for me. He ended up purchasing this piece.
Funny, I didn’t realize exactly quite how long ago it was until I dug out the before photo and realized there were no leaves on the trees yet!
Anyway, the piece is pretty traditional and not quite my normal style but I decided to modernize it a bit with Fusions’ Ash, a beautiful dark grey.
I’d done a similar piece in the same color last year and it turned out gorgeous (my sister ended up with that one).
This was a fairly simple makeover. My handyman Ken had to re-glue a couple of runners for the drawers first, then I sanded the entire thing down to try and smooth out some of the more obvious scratches in the finish. I cleaned the piece with TSP Substitute and then painted it with two coats of the Ash.
Once that was dry I sanded just the edges very lightly for some subtle distressing.
I was determined to keep the original knobs and pulls because there are 14 drawers on this thing! The cost for new ones would add up rather quickly at that rate.
I love using the Fusion paint on a large piece like this because you don’t have to add a topcoat which saves a lot of time, effort and money. Once cured, the Fusion paint will be fully washable as is.
I did use a little bit of the Homestead House Salad Bowl Finish around the distressed areas to protect any bare wood that was exposed.
A little bit of this stuff goes a long way. I’ve had this one small 1.75 oz jar for ages and have used it on many pieces, yet it is still more than half full.
The peonies were in full bloom when I took the pictures of this piece last weekend and I thought the varying shades of pink worked beautifully with the color of this dresser so it was a no-brainer to use them for staging.
The white, dark pink and medium pink peonies are all from my own garden while those gorgeously subtle pale pink ones are from nnK’s garden.
We’ve had some relatively cool weather lately so it seems like the peonies are lasting just a little bit longer this year.
There’s nothing like a whole bucket full of peonies to make your house smell amazing!
As you can see, things have changed a bit around here since I took that ‘before’ photo.
The trees definitely have leaves now, and everything is a lot greener!
And I think the dresser itself is much improved as well.
This piece is available for sale while it lasts. Check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page to see all of the pieces I currently have in stock.
q is for quandie 
Well Mr Q did find a piece with interesting legs. I love a simple makeover. Ash always makes a plain dresser look fabulous.
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The Ash totally saves this piece from being completely dreary!
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What a sweet husband you have! You are so blessed! Even though this is not the typical furniture type you would have purchased, the traditional piece redone is lovely and will look spectacular in someone’s house. I can picture this in a home office or crafting room as it has tons of storage space. Dressers are not just for bedrooms anymore. Another job well done.
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I am very lucky to have such a supportive (and handsome) husband. And I love the idea of using this piece in a crafting room, it really would hold tons of supplies!
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Too bad I don’t have room for a matching piece. This one would go perfectly. I love it too.
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It really would match well!
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Definitely…drab to fab. Looks great.
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That would have made a great title for my blog post! Drab to fab!
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Great rework of a ho hum 1970’s dresser. It now has gravitas! Or at least gray-vitas. I like simple, tasteful and you nailed it! Great storage, I would use it in an entry hall to hold linens and serving pieces you don’t often use.
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Also a fab idea for the use of this piece! And I love the gray-vitas 😉 Good one Laura!
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I love the the color of the dresser. Your peonies are gorgeous! Great for staging. Thanks for sharing 😊
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If only those peonies would last longer. We’re expecting a hot and humid weekend, so I’m guessing it will be the demise of the peonies for this year. Thanks Monica!
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As always, loving the makeover. While I was reading, I found myself wondering why this product is called “salad bowl”…any idea?
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It’s because this was initially a wax intended for those wooden salad bowls that all of our mother’s had in the 70’s. It is food safe and can be used on cutting boards, wooden utensils … and wooden salad bowls!
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I really like this. Wish I could get the courage to do my whole bedroom set, it is styled much like this. Betty from Ontario, Canada
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Well, I think you’d be very happy with it if you did it Betty. And it couldn’t be any easier with the Fusion paint!
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Perfect color it really does bring this back to life. I can see this with mustard accents in a boys room or even in a den as a tv console. I have used dressers before and added piano hinges on the drawer fronts.
Lusting after the peonies. Beautiful!
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I believe I have this exact piece sitting in my inventory! Your makeover is amazing and I couldn’t agree more regarding the hardware. When you have this many drawers, it can get really costly to replace all of them. Beautiful work as always Linda. … and those peonies are the icing on the cake. 🙂
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Thanks so much Denise! I think this style must have been very popular in its day because there seem to be a lot of these out there!
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