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Saturday, September 24, 2011

Craigslist Refresh

 I love Craigslist.  Yes, you have to deal with flakes and weirdos sometimes, but it's the best place to find terrific pieces for next to nothing.  I brought this dresser home a little while ago for only $20.

Ok, it's not much to look at, but it was all wood, solid construction with dovetailed drawers, and didn't smell icky.  That made it a winner.

I wanted to use this dresser down in the rec room for snacks & chips for the boys & their friends.  Remember when we got that awesome deal on a frig, back in May?  I told you about it here.  Well our BFFs had outgrown their small man-fridge in their man cave, so our old 36" side by side frig went into their garage.  Of course that left them with an extra 24" frig, which made it's way back to our house last month.  I decided to carve out some space in the rec room for a snack bar area.  The frig now holds popsicles, yogurt, cheese sticks, etc.  To make it a full snack bar, I needed storage for chips & pretzels & plates & spoons. 

But you know me, I couldn't just grab a dresser off Craigslist and call it done.  It needed a little bit of rehab.  I started by giving the whole piece a light sanding.

I removed the handles.  I keep a leatherman multi-tool in my purse, because you never know when you might need a pair of pliers or a screwdriver.  Such as when someone takes the phillips head screwdriver out of your perfectly organized kitchen tool drawer, that I showed you here, and forgets to replace it.  Grrr.

I used 2 cans of Valspar spray paint in Yellow Creme on the body of the dresser and the drawers, and 3 coats of Minwax Polyshades in Dakota Mahogany on the top, because I wanted a durable surface for the inevitable dirty ice cream scoop left on the dresser.  I love Minwax Polyshades.  It's a stain and polyurethane coating in one.  You don't need to sand to bare wood, and it still works beautifully, with just a bit of steel wool between coats.  Love, love, love the stuff.

I had every intention of replacing the hardware, but the pulls on the upper drawers were smaller than the typical 3" spread, and paying a premium for a weird size for a rec room snack bar didn't make sense.

The one on top is a typical 3" spread, the other one is a weird 2 3/4" spread.

I then considered spray painting the existing hardware, but after seeing the way the tarnished brass looked against the newly spiffed up dresser, I just put them back on.  Have you priced out aged brass hardware?  My patina'ed ones were the free choice, and I love the way they look against the soft yellow.


So here's my boys new snack bar(not yet in place in the rec room.)

And because we all like a good before and after.  Before.

And After.  Look how much better the hardware looks, and I didn't do a thing to it.  Love!

Thanks for popping in and painting with me. Linking this up to House of Grace's Best of 2011.
Funky Junk's Sat Nite Special Keeping It SimpleSouthernHospThriftyTreasures copy_thumbDomestically Speaking

27 comments:

  1. Wow, that is fabulous, I just bought a creamy yellow paint and can't wait to use it. I see so many great CL buy's I have never tried Cl, I think it is time I do!

    Carol

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  2. Lucky boys! The snack bar is a great idea. I love soft yellow. Spray painting would be much simpler than using a brush, which never seems to turn out well for me.

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  3. This looks great! LOVE it!

    Jenny
    www.simcoestreet.blogspot.com

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  4. This is awesome! We have a great place in downtown that sells amazing used furniture. I bet I could use this the next time we grab something there. Thanks!

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  5. It's so pretty! You make it sound so effortless-- like you just whipped it out while waiting for one of your amazing desserts to come out of the oven! I'm sure your boys will love having snacks so readily available. Great job!

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  6. I love it! Yellow is one of my favorite fresh colors. You did a great job, and hta tis a great CL find!

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  7. This looks great. I am going to be redoing a desk for my daughter soon. I like the contrast of the light and dark. Very nice. I will keep that in mind.

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  8. Wow! That looks great! You did a good job...I love the contrast between dark wood and light paint.

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  9. Very inspiring, Marcia! I love that you used spray paint!!! The Hubs was browsing around the party and called me to the computer to check out this great Craigslist makeover.... I yelled with glee "That's Marcia, from NY!" How funny :D

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  10. I am in awe of people who can look at an ugly duckling and see a swan! It looks wonderful, and I'm sure no one would believe what you paid for it if you hadn't told us! :)

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  11. Love the dresser! When I try spray painting, I often end up with little blobs of paint that spray out (about 1/4" diameter). What am I doing wrong or how can I avoid this?

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  12. Wonderful transformation...you did a fine job!

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  13. Oh I just love your new dresser! I hope you will add your lovely metamorphosis to my Fall in Love linky party on Wednesday.

    Until then, stop by and see the under $20 makeover I gave an ugly brass light fixture.

    Happy Monday!

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  14. What a great transformation! Love the colour you used :)

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  15. Wow. I love it. Nice job. The paint did wonders, and it's a beautiful piece now.

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  16. How pretty! Maybe that isn't a good word choice for the boys, but it looks great, no matter what word is used.

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  17. Wow talk about a makeover! I love that you kept the original hardware, it looks fantastic. :)

    PS I have a $50 cash giveaway going on on my blog right now. Come by when you get a chance! :)

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  18. Even the old hardware looks fantastic now! great work.

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  19. BeeYOUteeful!!! Creamy...my FAVOURITE!

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  20. OMG you are soooo talented! I WISH I was crafty like that. You made that dresser look brand new... I love the white and the dark brown countertop. Can you come teach me a lesson or two? :)

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  21. Very nice! The yellow is great it's such a soft shade, looks good with the stained top. I hope the top doesn't get ice cream stains on it too soon,but you're probably right. Thanks for sharing I like your blog I'll be stopping back soon.

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  22. Beautiful!!! You dis a great job!!

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  23. what a difference! it doesn't look the same at all- i LOVE the new darker top and the painted base!

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  24. Hi there. I am glad you got such a great deal. I purchased a very similar dresser for $20. I was so excited. The dresser is actually hard maple and most likely made between 1940 and 1960, but most likely in the 40's. Hard maple is a premium wood and the striations in the original finish are gorgeous. I stripped mine and put a natural stain over it as I like the rustic look. Your finished product is very nice!

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