We told you that we’d like to refinish the chest of drawers Charlie inherited from his grandparents. We started this project over a year ago. That seems to be our default time frame for getting back to an already-begun task. (We do have projects that were started years and years ago and never have been completed. One day a list of those and the excuses “why not” may be forthcoming.)
We removed the hardware.
We showed you a kit with all the fixings to strip the old beast which has a very nice interior: drawer separators, dovetail joints.
Drawer separators
We started by removing the drawers and working on the fronts first.
Charlie painted on the stripper in a thick layer.
Then let the whole thing sit until the stripper turned from tan to orange at which time it could be scraped off.
The drawers sat out too long and needed to be remoistened to remove the stripper.
Charlie worked on the detailed places next applying stripper to the fluted column then scrubbing it off with a toothbrush.
The carved columns on the front of the dresser were challenging to strip.
Then he stripped the sides and wiped them down with a clean dry cloth.
One side had lots of marks which would need careful sanding before the refinishing step.
The top was saved until last, a fairly straight forward detail.
After the finish was removed from the entire chest of drawers the next step is to sand the flat surfaces then wipe down the entire piece with mineral spirits. Once that is accomplished I can move in to put a new finish on the dresser. I’m going to try my hand at a Restoration Hardware-style finish shown on the rosette chest below.
Rosette Finish
I think it’s going to be tricky to pull off but I’d like to get it done before the weather turns really cold and I can’t work outside anymore.
Do you start projects that get pre-empted by other things?
