Dresser Makeover - From Yellow and Dated, to Mid-Century Modern

This is part II from Monday’s post… the mid-century modern dresser makeover!

Again, it’s been sitting in my garage for 15 months. It’s been used as a table for the girls painting and Hubby’s hockey gear, and has accumulated a LOT of sawdust from other projects I’ve been working on. Add to that years of sun damage (yellowing the varnish), oils from hands and layers upon layers of furniture polish and you have this beautiful piece of furniture hidden underneath this waxy/oily coating.

After the labour-intensive sanding that the nightstand required, I decided this mid-century modern dresser makeover was going to get chemically stripped. I don’t use chemical stripper all that often – mainly because I’m clumsy and usually get some on my skin (which burns) – but it really is effective.

In less than 10 minutes, layers were removed and I was left with an almost clean surface.

You can see in the photo below that there are areas that are more white – this is where there was still some stain/varnish residue left. If I were to add a coat of stain over top of these areas, it would leave very obvious light spots, and would negate any effort put into restoring the piece. If you want your mid-century modern dresser makeover to turn out, you’re much better to do a bit of sanding to remove these areas, coat with a pre-stain wood conditioner to make sure all of the white areas are gone (see Monday’s post) and sand again if necessary.

This is particularly important on the top of the dresser, after all, this is the part that you will notice the most.

Two coats of my Minwax Special Walnut and this mid-century modern dresser makeover is looking better already!

I could have stripped the entire piece down and stained it all, but the front section has veneer strips between the drawers. I wasn’t sure how well this area would take the stain, and/or if it would lose some adhesion if I sanded it….

Better to stick with the two-tone mid-century modern look. (Plus, painting is MUCH easier than staining).

I love being in my garage puttering away. I find it very relaxing, and consuming. I can be out there for hours and not even notice the time – which (far too often) leads to less-than-healthy lunches. Today’s menu: Bottlecaps (thank you Megs & Leslie!)

Because I wanted to stain the front of the drawers, and not invest a ton of money into new drawer handles, I sanded down the existing handles to remove all of the sludge, and then added two coats of Behr paint-and-primer in a Pottery Barn white. I did add a light layer of varnish over top of the paint as well – just to protect them from future hand oils.

All back together!

What do you think of my mid-century modern dresser makeover?

¼ of a quart of stain, ¼ of a quart of paint and 3 layers of varnish (which amounts to less than a ¼ quart) and you have a new, mid-century modern piece!