How to restore furniture / The Upcycled Dresser

In my opinion, there is a difference between refinishing and restoring furniture.  In fact what I enjoy most actually doesn't fall into either category.   I like to give old furniture new life,  maybe even re-purpose or upcycle,  so the terminology of the project,  is really not as important as creating something that you love.

In this case,  I saw a craigslist add for a free dresser,  no picture,  and it was sitting curbside.  I thought,  "hey,  if I can cram it into the back of my Mazda 3,  this may be fun." On a side note,  a Mazda 3 with the seats down,  functions a lot like a pickup truck.  Not as convenient,  but I did get the dresser home.

This is what it looked like out of the car

First I removed the drawers

The back was in rough shape,  so it was removed as well

Part of the original plan was to create a new back,  I traced the old one onto a new piece of wood,  filling in any missing corners with proper right angles

Then PAINT PAINT PAINT

The top "drawer" is actually a fold out shelf which I thought was really cool. so I left it.

I thought it could use shelves where the drawers used to be.

A nice walnut stain can really transform a piece of wood

now its starting to look like something new

This is the inside of the fold down top.  It needs to be painted

I used chalkboard paint,  as I thought if it were a bar, one could store recipes there

Something had to be done about the knobs though,  they didn't really work with the piece anymore

There thats better.

So for me, restoring this piece meant giving it a new purpose and life.  Refinishing it too, or upcycling.   but like I said, as long as you love the process,  and like how it comes out,  what you call it is not all that important!