The Dumpster Dresser

It's the day after Thanksgiving as you well know.  I'm NOT out Black Fridaying it up.  I am being a tad bit on the slacker side though and not writing a new blog post for the day.  Instead I'm picking out my favorite flip that my handsome handy husband and I did earlier this year.  I am updating it for you though and adding some new details. 

It's the Dumpster Dresser!!  While my husband and I are hard at work finishing up the makeover on our dining room hutch and buffet that used to belong to my grandmother this weekend, you can check out all of the work that went into the Dumpster Dresser. 

The story of this dresser/entertainment center began on any ordinary day in the Midwest.  My daughter and I on a dumpster dive.  This was a clean dumpster dive in a nice neighborhood.  No hepatitis shot needed.  Somebody had moved and their throwaway furniture didn't make the cut.  This was one of those pieces left behind.

Mint green, missing a drawer (we dug around for it, too!), the top was coming up and there were some issues with the side of it, too.  Plus the oversize knobs didn't do much to enhance it's appearance either.  

We had to reinforce this piece.  Glue, clamps, the whole shebang.   

We got rid of the curved sides and front trim which screamed "bedroom furniture".  That is usually the first thing I want to do when making over any bedroom furniture into something else.  Off comes the curved trim, in comes a straight piece. 

Since we were missing a drawer the top two drawers came down to the second row.  There was a problem though.  They weren't deep enough.  That's okay.  We hid that with some metal.

Oh, that's not the top but a piece of wood resting on top of the Dumpster Dresser. It would make a cute kitchen island though! 

My handsome handy husband used the drill press to pre-drill the holes before attaching this to the dresser.  Doing some grinding - no sharp edges.

We chose shed door pulls for the handles.  We backed them with metal that Triple H cut down to size.

 





I beat the heck out of this Dumpster Dresser with a chain to distress it.  Knicks, gouges, grooves, they were all welcome.  Industrial look baby!

 

Check out the metal rod at the top of the piece.  Then the rusty corner metal pieces.  We used a LOT of metal in different forms on this.  It added a lot of weight to it, too.

Look at the handles!  I love them.  Aren't they cool?  See where the drill press really came in handy?  With the way the screws on the piece line up so nicely?



Here it is all complete.
 
   

We wanted to give this piece the look that it has a history to it and boy, does it ever! The stain and distressing we put this piece through makes it look like it would be just as comfortable at home as it would be in a machine shop. It's a stained and paint finish but in some areas it just looks oil soaked which is the look we wanted.

Here's one more look at before and after.

Thanks to Triple H for helping me bring this idea to life!  I did the designing, distressing, sanding & staining.  He did all the heavy metal and wood work!  

We had this piece for sale and had some offers from all over, but shipping this beast (it weighs a TON) was too costly.  So, instead we sold our other one and Dumpster Dresser (yes, we still call it that) sits in our family room.  We love him, we love him, we love him.

A whole new furniture flip comes your way on Monday.  If you have one you'd like to share please email me.  Send before/after pictures and all of the details to furnitureflippin@yahoo.com .

 ~ Stephanie