The Life of an Old Dresser

The first big project around here I decided I wanted to work on was my mom's old dresser (that's her name inside one of the drawers). It was hers when she was little and it's been passed around for different kids and grand kids to use. We've had it since Zach was born...the paint is starting to peel and chip off, so I figured it was a good place to start! After looking at lots of different ideas, I got excited about painting it white and distressing it to look aged and then give it some new hardware. I have dreamed about how amazing it is going to look and how it will continue to be handed down for generations... After working on it for a couple of days I recognize that it probably won't turn out quite like I imagined, but I'm still hoping for something functional and beautiful (just not perfect!).

I debating sanded down through the MULTIPLE layers of paint (I've seen light blue, white, peach, brown, navy, and light green on the drawers) or using a chemical paint stripper or a heat gun. So far I have used all three! The sanding worked great where there weren't TOO many layers and the heat gun was really cool to try. But, as providence would have it, my father-in-law sent me an environmentally safe non-toxic (a.k.a. much more kid friendly) chemical stripper that arrived in the mail this morning (Emma was taking a nap, Alex was at a friend's house and the older kids were at school). It was one of those "all the stars have aligned" moments, so I took advantage and slathered the dresser with the stripper. So, here are some "before" pictures and hopefully I'll have an "after" picture soon!