I know the exact day I purchased this Mid Century Dixie dresser. How do I know the exact day? Well, I bought it on my 50th birthday. Is it strange that I celebrated a milestone birthday by shopping at the Goodwill? Never mind, don’t answer that. Anyway, I was so excited when I spotted this great piece that I almost started hyperventilating. Is that strange? Don’t answer that, either.
This is the second Mid Century piece I have restyled. My design was inspired by the many white and dark two toned pieces I have seen lately. After doing my usual prep (sanding, cleaning and priming), I painted the body with Sherwin Williams Pro Classic paint in pure white. The paint is fabulous and creates a nice smooth finish with minimal brush marks. I sanded the bottom two drawers to the bare wood, being careful not to get too aggressive and sand through the veneer. I stained them with one coat of General Finishes gel stain in java so that the wood grain was still visible. I then sealed them with General Finishes poly in satin.
By the way, the picture on top of the chest contains a Julia Child quote – “Fat gives things flavor.” Love that.
I wanted to highlight the recessed detail of the top 3 drawers, so I painted the insets with pure white and the raised edges with General Finishes milk paint in seagull gray. I love this color – it is a soft gray that looks very contemporary especially when paired with pure white.
I restored the original brass pulls by cleaning and polishing them with Brasso. They started out quite tarnished and looked like oil rubbed bronze. Brasso does a great job shining up brass, but it is quite a tedious process. Worth it, though.
One of my favorite details on this piece is the aqua divider in the second drawer. It’s a small detail, but I think it is so cool.
Here’s the side by side showing how this Mid Century beauty started out. I snapped the before shot with my iphone and it is a bit blurry. I unfortunately didn’t notice the poor quality when I took the photo – my Mid Century eyes aren’t what they used to be!
Thanks for reading my blog.
Susan
Linking with Miss Mustard Seed and The Vintage Storehouse
love your dresser redo, i would love to feature it if that would be ok please let me know,
lauren
Hi Lauren! Thank you – of course, you can feature my dresser redo. I appreciate it!
LOVE this Susan! Well, I pretty much love everything you do! This was one of our features this week at our ReLoved Fridays! Thanks for linking up! I hope to see you again at this weeks party!
Kelsey @ The Vintage Storehouse & Co.