No big deal dresser re-make, NOT!

Last month, I found this amazing buffet dresser at the thrift store and it was love at first sight.

It’s so stately.  

It looked expensive, with cherry wood and all the ornate wood work.  The price was right, but what about the doors.

The buffet doors appeared to be water-damaged, with the wood bubbled and cracking at certain points.

Somewhat overly confident and optimistic, I decided to buy it anyway.

Sure, I could fix it!

No big deal, right.

This thing barely fit in my car and weighed a ton, but I got it home, certain I’d find the time to fix it up for resale.

But, that’s not what happened.

It sat in my garage, day in/day out until my friend Lillian came for a visit.

Lillian purchased the telephone table from me. 

Remember this beautiful thing?

Full of a million furniture staples.

Up-doing the telephone table accompanied my tale of getting kicked off eBay.

This telephone table was a big project, getting kicked off eBay was a huge slam, but I digress.

Originally, I’d painted the telephone table white, but Lillian liked it better black.

I just love it.

Back to the buffet sitting in my garage, Lillian asked “What else do you have that I might like?”

We walked into my garage and it was love at first sight again, this time for Lillian.

“I want that,” she said pointing to the buffet, warped doors and all.  “Can you paint it black for me?”

“Sure,” I said, with a bit too much confidence and way too much optimism.  “No big deal.”

Five reasons why I didn’t start on this buffet right away.

1.  It was 115 degrees.

2.  The next day it was 114 degrees.

3.  The next day it 112 degrees.

4.  The next day it was 111 degrees and we had a wind storm.

5.  The next day is was 112 degrees.

But still, there it sat.  I had to prove to myself I could do it, sweltering heat or not.

I started with the electric sander, grinding away at the warped wood.

What I thought would sand off like butter was more like trying to cut through a frozen fruit cake.  It wasn’t going anywhere.  I was really sweating at this point.

After what felt like hours, I decided to use some wood putty.

I lathered it up and scraped it on with a spatula.

That’s a little bit better, NOT!

This time, I watered the putty down a bit, almost painting the putty on and it created a thin coat of goodness.

I sanded it down again and painted over it.

I couldn’t believe how great it cleaned up.

Here she is, in all her glory, fixed up in Lillian’s house.

And I'm glad I did it!