Maddie’s new old Chest of Drawers

From concept to finished product, here’s how it came out.

With a new baby on the way, we have to make room.  And this meant moving Maddie into her own big-girl’s room. And the big-girl’s room was going to need furniture.  I had my mother’s old chest of drawers out in the garage holding some stuff that we’d never need. It was time to see if I could refurbish it and use it in Maddie’s new room.

Originally, the dresser had a fine faux dark natural wood finish.  But it’s over 35 years old, and that finish was showing its age.  Actually, I didn’t even know the “grain” was fake until I sanded it off.  I got under the fake grain and found some decent panelling.  But this dresser was going into a bland room, and we wanted something that would add some color.

It took some thought, but we decided on light green.  I mocked up a doodle of the dresser in Paint Shop Pro, added some flowers, and we decided that that’s the way it should look.

Concept Photo

The refurbishing of the dresser took me a month with only one session per week during that month, so that’s about 4 sessions.  Basically, it was sanding, priming, painting, and painting a second coat.  The dresser is a little rickety due to its old age, but we hope it’ll last us a few more years.

Who We Were Then
  • David
  • Lillian
  • Maddie (2 years old)