Dresser Started….Finally!!!

I picked this dresser up last summer because it was exactly like a picture of a dresser that I’ve always had on my inspiration board. It has the rolled dresser drawers fronts and beautiful leg details. It was an awesome find! Plus I got an old picture for free! Ha Ha

The dresser needed some TLC but they were minor problems. My little assistant tried out the insides of the dresser to make sure it was sturdy.

Each drawer has “cleats”. which is good so drawers don’t fall out but, the wood had worn down on the side wood so the drawer bottoms were sliding back and forth over these “cleats” creating a groove in the under-side of the drawer.

This drawer had worn clear through. So, I needed to replace the drawer bottoms.

I used the old drawer bottom as a template and jig-sawed me a new drawer bottom out of sturdy MDF.

I used a hand planer on the edges of the new jig-sawed drawer bottoms to fit perfectly in the drawer grooves.

The drawers needed to be retro-fitted with NEW hardware. This will make the drawers slide easily in-and-out. But, new hardware isn’t built for old drawers so I had to cut them to size.

I hammered out the end so that I would have a plate to attach the drawer runner to the back of the antique dresser.

Cutting the metal wasn’t as easy as my husband always makes it look. But, he wasn’t going to be home for hours and I was on a roll. So, I cut them myself.

The metal hardware is ready to be attached.

Now that the drawer runners were cut, I was ready to tackle the warped top. Some water damage had occurred to the veneer so I knew it needed to come off. There was a huge wave on the upper right corner of the top where the veneer had already bubbled, so I started there hoping it would make the process easier. Not! Every inch was work!

It was glued on tight and I had to use a chisel to remove the veneer top to reveal the hardwood underneath. These next few pictures make it look like the Veneer peeled up like a sticker but, let me assure you, that is not the case. It took me hour of jabbing my chisel in, twisting it a bit to break the glue and lifting the veneer another half an inch (if I was lucky) It was a long tedious but rewarding process. I only ended up with five slivers in three different knuckles! LOL

I finally removed all of the veneer top to reveal planks of hardwood underneath. I then used my wood putty to fill any imperfections and left it to dry before I sand it off to create my flat wooden top.

This is where I am…waiting for wood filler to dry so I can sand. I am ready to nail my drawer bottoms in and screw in the hardware.  But, a really great start to my Dresser Project!