Thrifty Thursday: A Dresser Makeover!

It's Thrifty Thursday and I had to reach deep into my photo archives for this one as I haven't photographed my most recent thrifting cache from a few weekends ago!

But don't worry, this is one of my favorites so I am more than happy to share!

As you might have read a few days ago in my post A China Press Makeover , I completely revamped my room about 5 years ago when I was home from college one summer. 

I came across this dresser by looking through craigslist. There was no photo, just a description for an antique dresser with marble top and crystal knobs that would be for sale at estate sale the following saturday. That saturday morning I work up early and coerced my mom into going with me downtown to where the sale was. 

Fortunately we got there before they opened and were the 1st ones so when the older couple who were really just having a small garage sale opened their door I asked about the dresser and was shown inside to view it. It had original glass/ crystal knobs, key holes in all the drawers, dovetail jointing and was solid wood, I was sold and asked how much? When they said $65 I almost started jumping up and down!

Not 10 minutes later while loading it into my Dad's SUV 3 other people had come and asked about the dresser! There is truth in the statement "The early bird catches the worm!"

I only took a before pic of it with my old cell phone at the time and have no idea where that photo may be so I only have it post sanding. 

(pardon the blurry cell phone pictures... they were all I had of the before)

It took a lot of elbow grease with this little lady, but after 2 days of sanding and sanding and more sanding... I primed her twice with Kilz and then painted her in a pretty white that had just a hint of pink in it. 

I cleaned the crystal knobs which were a bit dirty and the marble top and she looked perfectly shabby chic when it was all said and done! I purposely left the top two drawers the original wood veneer because a) i couldn't for the life of me get the smaller knobs off b)the veneer was in almost perfect shape and c) I liked the character it added, hinting at its former life while showing off its new style! 

A China Press Make Over!

4 or 5 years ago I came home from college for the summer, looked around my bedroom and decided, "This furniture needs to go!"

It was black with mirrors covering the front of every surface and while it had been awesome for sleep overs in middle school when we'd do make up and hair, it just multiplied any mess in my room because of the mirrors all over the fronts of the drawers and cabinet doors.  

So I took photos of it, put it on craigslist for sale and got it gone!

And with the cash I made combined with some of my savings and some $ from my parents, I revamped my room for under $500. One of those purchases was this lovely China Press that I found on Craigslist and paid $115 for!

I really liked the color it was but it smelled of smoke and the inside was too dark so I took to it with a bucket of hot water and Murphy's Oil and scrubbed the dickens out ot if!

Seriously, I scrubbed that thing all over at least twice and went through about 50 q-tips cleaning decades of grime out of all those intricate nooks and crannies. Needless to say, there was a lot of junk that came off of it. 

Than I painted the inside white. I knew from the moment I'd seen this cabinet online that I wanted to use it to display some of my pottery and vintage cameras and that if the inside was white everything would stand out much better!

I put two coats of primer on and then used some left over white with a pale pink hue that I had gotten for another piece of furniture to paint and went to town. 

The end result was exactly what I wanted!

 It brightened the whole piece up and gave me a great way to display some of my collected treasures!

Not to mention became a favorited piece by all of my friends! I have had at least 4 friends ask me to please let them know if I ever decided to sell it because they would buy it from me. Cool! But no thanks gals, this one is a keeper for sure! :)

The Waiting Game Paid Off!

So, now, I am not talking about the waiting game as in the waiting to meet Mr. Right. I'm still in the thick of that wait, but I am talking about waiting to find just the right (look & priced) wrought iron bed!

I know, you are like seriously? A bed? Why are you so strange Sarah!?

Seriously though, for the past 3 years I have really been wanting to get a real antique wrought iron bed. I'm a romantic, its true, so there is just something about the idea of a beautiful old bed that makes me happy. Not to mention feels like it would complete my collection (until I get a place of my own) of old and distressed furniture. 

So, over the past 3 years I have been looking. And I have found. A lot of beds actually. But some were just so expensive I couldn't even start dreaming and others just didn't have the "WOW" factor I wanted. My ideal bed was to be old, definitely pre 1950's and preferably very feminine with scrolling soft lines and details. 

I turned down many a bed I found through online searching and thrift and antique store shopping from VA to NY to AR to FL.  Mostly because if the price was right the bed itself wasn't and if the bed was right the price was just not comfortabley within my budget for a luxury purchase since I don't need this bed.. I just wanted it.

Then, this past Wednesday night I couldn't fall asleep. So I at 1am I got on my iPhone's craiglist app and started searching and I found what seemed to me the most unbelievable price. 

$25 for an antique fixer upper wrought iron Full size bed. Exactly what I was looking for. 

I called the next morning and amazingly, the guy still had it! Not wanting to miss out on this rare find I said I would come that day to pick it up and through the bribery of buying him both McDonald's breakfast and Chipotle lunch, dragged my brother along to help. We drove up to Crozet, Va and packed it into my little Hyundai Santa Fe. It just barely fit!

Now if I include the cost of gas to get  there & back and my brother's appetite, it really came to closer to $70 however that is still $70 less than the best finds I've had in the past and was considerably below my $125 budget.  Not to mention, once I sell my current bed I will end up making all of that back plus a but of a profit! So if you're in the market for a double bed frame I have a black metal sleigh bed to sell you! ;)

 Ironically, it is not the scrolling curvy lined one I had always imagined. However it does have beautiful scallop shell detailing where all the bars meet and since I have an overall aesthetic for beach shabby chic it felt like the perfect addition to my collection of furniture!

It has both a headboard (below) and footboard (above) along with the rails. And it is definitely rusty and paint chipping and needs some love but I'm never afraid of a little sweat equity to get something looking fabulously newly old!

And boy oh boy is it heavy! No doubt about it being a real wrought iron bed! I can't wait to show you how I clean it up and then transform it! But for now, I just couldn't wait til Thrifty Thursday to share my awesome find! 3 years of being picky about what exactly I wanted and was willing to pay for it really paid off! 

I'm hoping that means that really waiting and being selective about who I date will really pay off in the future too ;) Hehe!