I’m almost embarrassed to admit how many dressers I’ve looked at over the past year.

Upon moving into our new home last summer, I knew I wanted an entryway dresser. We had the perfect place for it, but I couldn’t find the perfect dresser. I was looking for something antique, since our home is a colonial, and I’d set my eyes on a serpentine dresser.

Most dressers I found were too far away or too big. I did finally find one, but after putting it in the house, realized how poor of a condition the bottom shelves were and decided to resell it.

Almost a year later, I drove up to New Bern and hit up some antique stores with a friend. I found this beauty right as I walked in the door! While it wasn’t a serpentine dresser, it was the perfect size, and I could already see it’s potential. Not to mention it was only $145! From my google search, I believe it is a federal bow front chest. 

The sad part to me is, someone painted this dresser to make it look “farmhouse”, or “shabby chic” as they say. The really sad part is what a bad job they did. The paint is literally dripping off the sides. It was screaming, “help meeeee!” And so began the process of restoring it to its former glory.

I used this professional strength paint remover first, with a plastic putty knife. I used 2 bottles of it before running out and then finished the rest of the paint removal using Citri Strip. Citri Strip worked well too, you just have to wait longer for it to work. 

I worked on one section at a time. Just look at that beautiful wood underneath!

A young neighbor friend of Amelia’s stopped and asked me what I was doing when she saw me outside working. I used this great teaching moment to tell her, “never paint over good wood!” 😜 Here’s to hoping one less antique dresser in the world will be spared from this heinous trend. 

The real excitement came after starting on the drawers. I squealed when I saw the tiger wood that had been inlaid around the edges.

Whhhhhhyyyyyyy would someone paint over this????????? Ok, sorry. Moving on….

After stripping it, I removed any leftover stripper with mineral spirits before sanding it down with 120 grit sandpaper, making sure to sand with the grain of the wood. I then went back over everything with 600 grit sandpaper.

After I blew off all the dust and wiped it clean, I applied Tung Oil. Tung Oil doesn’t change the color of the furniture, it simply enhances and restores the natural color and warmth of the wood back to its natural beauty.

 

I applied it liberally with a paintbrush, let it sit for 10 minutes, and then wiped off the excess with a lint-free rag. I let it dry overnight, and then lightly sanded it down again the following day with my 600 grit sandpaper.

After wiping it down again, I applied a second coat of Tung Oil exactly like before. It absorbed into the wood beautifully before I wiped it down the last time with a lint-free rag. (I can’t emphasize enough that it needs to be a lint-free rag! You don’t want to get tiny fibers all in the oil and ruin your hard work.)

I let it dry for a day in the garage before putting the drawer pulls back on and bringing it into the house.

Just look at this side by side comparison! Wow!

When I was googling the style of dresser, I ran across this one that’s on sale for a mere $4,350!! I’m pretty sure my newly restored dresser is worth well over the $145 I paid for it now!

I think this beauty will be with us for many years to come, but on the off chance that it doesn’t fit in our next house, I’ll start taking offers for it at the low price of $4,000. 😜