Vintage Sears 9 Drawer Dresser

 

This Vintage Sears dresser caught my eye because of its beautiful drawer pulls, how rare a find, when you have all the original drawer pulls, intact! I jumped on this dresser, I got it at the same time I got the Ward Chest of Drawers that is in another post if you would like to see how it turned out, check the link below!

https://notasfancyasmyname.blogspot.com/2022/02/beam-me-up-scotty.html

Now, I had the highest of hopes for this piece with its wonderful bones, however, I could see from the shine on the drawers I was dealing with MDF drawer fronts, and I wasn't 100% sure what the top was made out of since I covered it up with the mirror as soon as I got it home. 

I pulled the mirror off and got to work! I started with hand sanding with a sanding sponge with 120 grit sandpaper just to be safe. The frame was solid wood, along with the trim but sadly the dresser was mdf there was some bubbling on the top that had to be addressed. So the sanding process continued, the lighter spots on the top are where the bubbling was happening, once I got them smooth enough you could no longer see the bubbles or feel them it was time to sand down the trim, when I am staining I usually sand by hand, this allows me to feel everything happening with the wood, however, this trim has a ton of texture that I just didn't want at all, I wanted to get down to view the actual grain, so I brought out my orbital sander.

I chose to use the 123 tinted primer I got as an oopsie, I knew I was dealing with mdf, so I had to take precautions with the top. I sealed in the previously bubbled spots with wood filler to smooth them out prior to adding the water-based primer to the top to avoid any additional swelling. Then it got cold! Below freezing, so I took a break, but it wasn't a long one. I moved the dresser into my house to continue working! 

I went with flat black chalk paint on this piece and was so pleased with my choice! Now, trying to decide what stain I would be using, I removed the gold accents prior to priming the piece as well to ensure the sanding was done accurately and evenly. I tested a few stains, Pickled Oak, Dark Walnut, Mahogany, and a custom mix of Dark Walnut and Mahogany.  Once everything dried I knew exactly which one I was going for! The complex tones that came from the custom mix were perfect!

It was perfect! I was very excited to finish this piece, all that was left was sealing it I knew I didn't want to go with anything gloss so I was on the hunt for the best matte topcoat.  While I was on that hunt I went to the hardware and the accents, they were a very yellow gold which was not my style. I went for metallic gold spray paint, after properly preparing them.
 

This piece didn't last long on Marketplace it was just wonderful! I was kind of sad to see it go, but I knew I had to part with it. 

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