A Tale Of Stalking, A Nice Guy Named Russell, Furniture Gods & The Beautiful End Result...

Orei's Designs has a fantastic furniture flip to share with us today!  I loved the way it was submitted to me so much that I'm letting them present it to you today!  Take it away...Orei's Designs!

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Well, I had been STALKING Craigslist for months for a Mid Century Modern dresser for my son's room makeover.  This is harder than I thought, it seems everyone wants to sell these things for way higher than should be legal in my humble opinion.  I understand that these pieces are all the rage, but selling pieces with veneer falling to pieces or water stains all over the top, for close to what I would pay for a new piece of furniture, borders on loony in my opinion.  But, I digress.  

Eventually, I  spotted one from this really nice guy named Russell, who was even willing to deliver it to me!  When I went to inspect the piece to make sure it would fit me and he found out I redo furniture he offered me this very sad piece!  He forewarned me about the lovely child rendition of Picasso conveniently painted on the top of the dresser.  Later that day, when he showed me the pics, I wanted to run for the hills, especially when he told me his asking price!  When I went to pay him for my son's dresser, he brought up buying this piece and he would be willing to come way down on the price.  I told him the price I was wiling to pay.  The next day he brought both dressers. 

When I got it in my workshop, I instantly regretted paying for it.  I felt like this dresser was that ugly dress that has been sitting in your closet for months, because you have no idea what planet you were on when you bought it!  I know someone out there feels me on that! 

It was in pretty bad shape. It had water damage all on the sides and it was veneer so that means I would have to replace it.  Something I was not willing to do.  Plus, the lovely child artist had decide to paint his Sistine Chapel in two of the drawers as well.  After sitting in utter disbelief on having bought this, I started to look at it's "at least" qualities.  You know, like that boyfriend you acknowledge in your heart of hearts should be kicked to the curb, but "at least" he has a good job.   Plus, I'm in the business of rescuing furniture and well, this obviously needed to be resuscitated!

I was at JoAnn Fabrics looking around, when I found this fantastic deal on linen.  Not even two days earlier, I had seen a Rast makeover online with linen, using a technique that was shown on the Martha Stewart show.   I decided then it was the Furniture Gods handing me my assignment! 

Tackling the inside of the drawers was decided then, too, because there was my beloved Mod Podge on sale as well! A friend of mine who does the same thing I do had used this awesome vintage looking wrapping paper on one of her pieces and I thought that would be a solution to all of the "artistry" going on inside the drawers.  So, it was a go! 

The drawer fronts were in good condition and I wanted to stay as true to the piece as possible.  I used my favorite varnish oil blend Watco Danish oil in medium walnut after stripping the old finish.  I then applied my favorite oil Varnish Arm-R- Seal in gloss to give it a showroom finish!  I added the upholstery tacks  along the sides and the front to add a little more visual interest, due to the darkness of the linen.  

I love Jax Does Design's blog.  When I saw her faux zinc rast makeover hardware, I quickly put in an order because I knew it would finish off this piece nicely!!  Expensive but worth it in the end. 

This makeover I believe is testimony to the wonderful community we have here on the Internet.  Women and men taking the time to share their insights and sometimes frustrations, which inspires people like me to "Nike it and JUST DO IT!"
  

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Stephanie here again!  See!  What did I tell you?  Pretty cool makeover.  Orei Designs doesn't have a blog, or a Facebook page (yet) but she does sell her items in the Houston, TX area.  Leave her a comment here and encourage her to join the ranks of us online.  She's got some talent going on! 

Thanks so much Orei Designs for letting us feature your fantastic furniture flip!