Winter White Amazing Dresser Transformation

Hello friends!!

Have you missed me? 

I've been completely missing in action for the past couple weeks but I have good excuses :) 

I was planning on take the week of Christmas off...and then the next week I was struck down with the flu. Guys. It. knocked. me. out. 

I have never felt so bad in my entire life.

Add being pregnant on top of that & it was just pure misery.

I had to fight it out since I couldn't take any meds and I was pretty much unable to do anything that week...just lying in bed & existing was a chore.

Then this past week was spent playing catch-up at work & trying to get the house back in order.

You know that first trimester fatigue?

It's a killer. 

I come home from work & literally melt into the couch and don't move until bedtime.

I've never waited until after New Years to put Christmas away but I spent all this past week packing it all away bit by bit.

I finally got the last part of the 'normal' decor up today & the house is starting to look normal again. 

We have our first baby appointment in a couple weeks & I can barely wait. 

So bear with me for the next little bit as I try to summon enough energy to keep up with everything.

On a fun blog note- I have several amazing, fabulous posts coming up.

Of course there are some awesome furniture transformations that I've been dying to share, I have an absolutely gorgeous room reveal to share & finishing up the last touches on the kids room reveal. Plus Valentine's is right around the corner which means printables!!!

Are you excited??? 

Because I definitely am :) 

So onto today's post.

This is one that has been a long time coming.

For lots of reasons.

But it's probably the best furniture transformation I've done to date. Which is saying something because I'm still obsessed with the green buffet. 

So get ready for picture overload but it's completely & utterly worth it. 

Let me show you where it all started...

So...I picked this beastly beauty up OFF THE CURB several years ago.

Yes, I say years.

And it sat in my garage because I had big plans for it.

But it was going to take a lot of work. 

So I waited. 

And waited.

And then hubby came around & we decided to tackle it together :) 

The main problem (and there were a lot of main problems) was that two of the drawers were completely demolished.

Like someone had a fit of rage and took a hammer to them demolished.

So there was no getting around the fact that it was no longer going to have all the drawers. 

The picture above shows it complete stripped down to it's bare bones.

Since it didn't have all the top drawers, I decided it need to become more of a buffet/entertainment type piece.

As in, make the top part into a shelf that could have baskets or electronics placed in them. 

And the great project was born :) 

First things first, we needed access to the inside of the beast.

So I took a flat-head screwdriver and needlenose pliers and pried the backing off the entire dresser.

It only took a few minutes & it allowed us access to the inside of that top part where we wanted to add a shelf. 

Next up was deciding what to use for the shelf.

I originally was going to use one long piece of wood but then decided it might look a ton better with a planked top. 

This is a new favorite thing of mine to do :) 

So we got some gorgeously- grained pine and cut them to fit the length of the top dresser level. 

I wanted them to extend from the front support bar (where the drawers originally sat) to the back support bar. 

We got lucky and only had to slice a little bit off of one board to have them all fit perfectly in the space. 

They were then stained walnut & adhered to the support beams with liquid nails.

The next challenge was taking care of all the cosmetic damage to the outside of the piece.

There were tons of scratches all along the top & a chunk missing from one of the bottom back legs. 

Wood filler took care of the scratches & gouges on the top and then they were sanded down nice & smooth. 

I used joint compound to fill in the larger missing pieces at the bottom- it wasn't perfect but it did the trick and since it was being painted, it all would blend nicely together. 

The whole piece had to be sanded down multiple times... it had definitely seen quite a bit of abuse at it's former home.

(in case the beaten drawers didn't tell you that already!) 

But I knew it had huge potential :)

After it was prepped (I hate that it only four words to state that...because it took days to get to where it looked like it could be anything other than a sad cast-off!) 

It was time to paint.

I used my absolute favorite go-to white 'Snowbound' by Sherwin Williams.

I swear by their enamel paint line.

Gorgeous finish, fabulous coverage & the durability is amazing. 

It took three coats for full coverage and then I used a sealing wax to finish it off. 

Are you just dying to see the results??

Well, settle in guys, because there are quite a few pictures.

When it takes that long to get a good result & it turns out this breath-takingly gorgeous, it's easy to get carried away in pictures :) 

I know, right?

I'll give you a moment to pick yourself up off the floor & gather your wits.

It's stunning. 

Like, I had to stop myself from staring at it for hours on end stunning. 

I know you want more :) 

The hardware is original to the piece (I had to salvage some of the pulls from the destroyed drawers) and I painted them oil-rubbed bronze to contrast with the snowy white & go with the walnut shelf. 

And of course this piece was calling out to be distressed.

It had amazing curves & it's history was determined that it share it's story of being beat-up...in the right way this time. 

One thing I loved was the shelf on top was just deep enough to allow room for good-sized baskets if you wanted to store clothes or linens.

But it was also perfect for storing DVD players & other electronics if you wanted to make it an entertainment center.

All it would need is a couple holes drilled into the back to allow for cords. 

Me & hubby has to have a pretty good heart-to-heart about this piece when it was finally finished.

I told him that if we got rid of it, we'd regret it forever.

Gotta love my dramatic spirit :) 

But in the end, it just wasn't reasonable to store it in hopes that someday we'd have the space to make it an entertainment center. 

So up for sale it went.

Luckily for me it sold to some great friends of ours where I know it'll be well loved & I can visit it periodically :) 

Want to see the before & after??
Who am I kidding, of course you do :)

Even after going through the whole process and seeing it from start to finish,

it's still hard to imagine that the beautiful white piece you see in the end started as such a sad, partially destroyed piece of furniture.

It's definitely my biggest feat as of yet. 

Sooo...I'm dying to know...

Are you as obsessed with it as I am? 

What do you think the previous owners would think of it now? 

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