Changes: What's Old is New

I have to admit I have been slow to blog the past week but I swear I have been busy. So far I have made a valance for my bathroom, refinished a dining room table and painted an old sideboard. In the midst of this scurry of projects I decided to move around some furniture for better use. Below is a pic of an old dresser, (and other pieces in various stages of completion). 

 

This dresser  used to belong to my daughter and since we moved into our home (three years ago) and she took over my solid wood set, (a future painting project), I moved it into the spare bedroom to store personal stuff like brushes and combs, hot rollers, hair accessories and more. 

 

 

I love the craftsman look of the dresser, especially the hardware, and wanted it to be in a more exposed spot in my home and what better place than the living room. It is a perfect piece to set the TV on and it has lots of drawers for storage. Of course I pulled one of the drawer out to house the cable box (I drilled a hole in the back to fit the cords). The only problem was the top...it was a mess.

I knew it would be hard to stain the top so that it matched the rest of the piece so I decided to go with a darker color. 

After stripping to the bare wood, I used a coat of dark walnut (#1), followed by a coat of Kona (#2), followed by a second coat of dark walnut (#3)...all by Varathane. I am not sure why that recipe achieves the rich brown I love but it does.  I then topped it off with three coats of Polyacrylic. 

 

  

On a side note...the three frames  were wedding gifts that I have been saving for just the right spot. I think they have found a home. Now I just need to figure out what pictures to put in them. I'm thinking black and whites...what do you think?

I love the way it turned out and am so excited to complete the rest of the room. Stay tuned and thanks for visiting.